English players playing abroad?

[Guy Fawkes]

Are there any English players playing in foreign domestic leagues? - i'm struggling to think of any who ply their trade abroad and the only ones i can think of that have in recent times, have been playing in second rate leagues like Australia rather than the Bundesliga, La Liga and so on.

Have we ever had a period of time where we have had a decent amount playing abroad as again i can only think of a few like Gazza and David Platt playing in Serie A or owen and Mcmanaman in La Liga but otherwise

How important to our national game is it to have players who have played abroad or does the fact that the Premier league is one of the top divisions in the World mean that we don't need to look abroad to improve our players?

Over to you.....

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Defoe - Canada.

 

[JJ McClure]

Isn't that Michael Mancienne chap playing in Germany? Can't think of any others.

 

[seagulls4ever]

Michael Mancienne plays for Hamburg.

Eric Dier plays for Sporting CP.

 

[Iamapen15]

Anton Ferdinand - somewhere in Turkey (I think).

 

[Iamapen15]

Also Michael Higdon plays for NEC in the Dutch league!

 

[seagully]

Didn't Scott Carson play at Bursaspor (sp?) for a few years?

 

[Norman Potting]

Gareth Bale or has he been excluded as he is Welsh?

 

[Iamapen15]

There are no English players playing in France, Italy or Spain. However, a quick google search tells me that there are English players in the following leagues: -

Australian, Belgium, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Danish, Finish, Greek, Israel, Dutch, German, Polish, Portugal, Romanian, Scottish, Swedish, Turkish and American.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Michael Mancienne plays for Hamburg.

Eric Dier plays for Sporting CP.

Also Michael Higdon plays for NEC in the Dutch league!

There are no English players playing in France, Italy or Spain. However, a quick google search tells me that there are English players in the following leagues: -

Australian, Belgium, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Danish, Finish, Greek, Israel, Dutch, German, Polish, Portugal, Romanian, Scottish, Swedish, Turkish and American.

I wonder if they were even considered when searching for players for this years WC squad?

It seems that most only go abroad right at the end of their playing career, possibly chasing one last pay check otherwise its a no go area for English players.

If our younger players are struggling to break through into our top flight, how come they don't seek clubs abroad? - is it just the English way or is it down to money (get more playing in the lower leagues here?) or is it that they arn't technially good enough to play for foreign sides?

The lack of technical ability could also explain why we only have around 20% of the Premier League players being English but that could also be in part down to looking for instant success by buying good foreign players who have a chance to develop in a good league domestically before coming to England to play and giving them that education they need to become world class or just top European players.

They said that the foreign imports to the PL would help our youngsters because they will have better players to learn from, but are they better (technically) than before? but just not given a chance and miss a key stage in their development or is it a numbers game and we just don't have enough in numbers playing in the top quality leagues to produce these world class players?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Gareth Bale or has he been excluded as he is Welsh?

No, he's Welsh so can't play for England so sadly doesn't count.

 

[BigGully]

There are no English players playing in France, Italy or Spain. However, a quick google search tells me that there are English players in the following leagues: -

Australian, Belgium, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Danish, Finish, Greek, Israel, Dutch, German, Polish, Portugal, Romanian, Scottish, Swedish, Turkish and American.

There's an under 17 English international playing somewhere in France, perhaps Lille.

The real answer is that all the English talent are playing in the Championship or below squirted out by foreign talent, and a few squirted out to the countries you have mentioned due to not being as good as those originally squirted out to the Championship.

 

[atfc village]

Lateef Elford Alliyu played for Valletta in Malta last season.

 

[Keeping The Dream Alive.]

Owen Hargreaves was criminally overlooked whilst playing abroad.

 

[BensGrandad]

Anton Ferdinand - somewhere in Turkey (I think).

Signed for a club in Thialand. The only one who should have been in Brazil was Defoe a natural goal poacher.

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

Owen Hargreaves was criminally overlooked whilst playing abroad.

I read an article about Eric Dier (mentioned previously by another poster) having the same thing. He is a a highly rated centre back in Portugal but doesn't appear to be able to get into the England senior team.

I really think we need players in other countries to understand their style of play and also to get them some game time!

Now that it looks like we are out (baring an amazing last 2 minute turn around for Italy) I really hope that we let the youngsters that have been taken start a game so they can get experience of playing together at a big tournament

 

[gordonchas]

There is an English player who played last season in La Liga. This isn't any sort of trick question, he is genuinely English and he made full appearances in the Spanish 1st Division.

However, I'll keep that to myself for the moment and award full marks to anyone who knows who this is without looking it up.

 

[Northstandite]

Platt, Gazza, Walker, Hoddle and Waddle.

That was the early 1990's, when we had some talented players who were good enough to play with top players overseas, before the PL Sky money changed so much.

 

[ant-emm@ntlworld.com]

Jermaine pennant??

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I read an article about Eric Dier (mentioned previously by another poster) having the same thing. He is a a highly rated centre back in Portugal but doesn't appear to be able to get into the England senior team.

I really think we need players in other countries to understand their style of play and also to get them some game time!

Now that it looks like we are out (baring an amazing last 2 minute turn around for Italy) I really hope that we let the youngsters that have been taken start a game so they can get experience of playing together at a big tournament

Eric Dier played in the u-20 Toulon tournament with JFC and Solly March, and looked bang average. Nothing like good enough to be considered for a full England call up.