English Players playing abroad

To be honest, I am not patriotic person and therefore have no emotional bond with the national team. Therefore, this thread is not a discussion about the state of national team but rather the quality of home grown players and their mentality. Whatever people say about Pennant, you cannot deny that it is a brave but exciting move for him to Real Zaragoza. He is the only English player in LA LIGA.

Matt Derbyshire move to Olympiakos was a shock transfer especially with the fact that he was a boyhood Blackburn Rovers fan.

It seems pretty clear that many of English players are not even good enough to go abroad. Yet despite saying this, we have witnessed many average players from other countries here in the Premiership. Of course many leagues have players from foreign countries but hardly any from England.

Is it a combination of lack of quality and weakness of mentality that has led to this dearth of English players abroad? Or is there another reason. Certainly those who have moved abroad get my appreciation as it is an exciting venture that will certainly enhance their cv.

Well one thing I would say is look at the amount of African players here, kind of speaks for itself.

England is a great country to live in, and a brilliant one to play football in.

The issue with English players is they simply are not good travelers in terms of play in other footballing cultures and also the simple fact is money. If you can make better money at home rather than having to play in some country where you are forced out of your element, have to learn a new language etc then the easy thing to do is stay home.

I like how Beckham gets booed in America, and his own captain calls him an asshole. Looks good on him.

 One of the first players i can remember going overseas to play was Neil Franklin,he was an England centre half who played for Stoke city,He was unhappy with his pay of 20 quid a week and went to Bogota Columbia in 1950 for 5000 quid year plus 35 quid for a win bonus.At the time Columbia was not affiliated to F.I.F.A so in a way what he did was illegal.When he came back to England he was suspended and eventually finished up playing for Hull.When he left Stoke I am sure another Stoke player went with him,I have got the name mountford in my mind but cannot be 100% sure.While on the subject of English players playing abroadAston villa sold a Center forward to an Italian club and he was a big success over there as was the great John Charles even though he was Welsh/

Of course things may change now that the Government have (suposedly) decided to impose 50% tax  on the super rich. Although, in principle, this shouldn't change anything as the premiership is one of the most exciting leagues in the world,  we cannot deny that this may influence some to reject a move here as ultimately money dictates a player's career.  La Liga, after a slight dip, is fast emerging as a serious contender to knock the Premiership of its pedestal with the best players. Prehaps, there will be one or two English players who will be tempted to try out a different enviornment.

(Anyway it's about time the rich stopped having tax breaks that are not available to the poor).

Is Beckham the only player playing outside of england for England?

Is Beckham the only player playing outside of england for England?

I think you could also say Kazim Richards but I'm not completely sure about him.

I forgot about him Ross. That was a shock move from Brighton to Fernebache. He was suddenly playing against Chelesa in the Champions league knockout stage.

As far as I'm aware, there are five English players who are playing aborad:

1) Pennant - real zaragoza
2) Beckham - LA Galaxy
3) Colin-Kazim Richards - Fenebache
4) Derbyshire - Olympiakos
5) Vassell - - Ankaragucu: Who can forget this! Fans greet Darius Vassell in Turkey

I think you could also say Kazim Richards but I'm not completely sure about him.

3) Colin-Kazim Richards - Fenebache

No he wouldn't count because he opted to change to Turkish nationality.

There are a few English players who do play in the MLS with Becks, most of them are lower league football players but players like Danny Dichio and Darren Huckenby who have played in top flight English football do play in the MLS.

If you want to get technical there's a couple of english players playing down here.

Robbie Fowler being the only one we care about, though Dmasta

So no one cares about Andy Todd.

5) Vassell - - Ankaragucu: Who can forget this! Fans greet Darius Vassell in Turkey

That really is brilliant.