Home
It’s very ironic when you think about it. The fact that English Premier League (EPL) is considered (by some) the best league in the world and yet the number of British players playing abroad is shockingly low. In England alone, we could come up with long lists of Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Italian players applying their traits in the EPL.
Meanwhile, Great Britain only has seven players playing in top leagues across Europe. Yes, you read that correctly. There are only seven British players playing in top first division leagues in Europe: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Joe Hart (Torino), Ravel Morrison (Lazio), Oliver Burke (RB Leipzig), Lewis Baker (Vitesse), Tafari Moore (FC Utrecht) and Simon Church (Roda JC).
This also applies to managers both locally and abroad. In all the top foreign league, there is not one British manager currently in charge. The closest thing you will find is Paul Clement who is Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant at Bayern Munich. The last two British managers that trained abroad were David Moyes at Real Sociedad (didn’t complete a whole year before getting the sack) and Gary Neville at Valencia (hired and fired in the middle of the season).
Locally, there are only seven managers in charge; none of which managed to get their teams to finish in the top 7 last season. In the meantime, La Liga has 14 local coaches, Bundesliga 11, Serie A 16 and Ligue 1 15.
What’s even more interesting is that the few British players that actually leave the islands don’t end up staying out for too long.
In fact, players such as John Charles, Laurie Cunningham, Gary Lineker, David Blatt, Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle, Kevin Keegan, Trevor Francis, Michael Robinson, Steve McManaman, David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves are some of the few examples of British players that lasted longer than two seasons in a foreign league and even made a name for themselves in their respective clubs.
Besides that, players like Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, Graeme Souness, Paul Lambert (Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund), John Aldridge, Jonathan Woodgate and Denis Law barely made it to a second season before deciding to return to the islands.
Along with this, only five British managers are well known for coaching in top leagues abroad: Bobby Robson (PSV, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Barcelona), John Toshack (Real Sociedad and Real Madrid), Terry Venables (Barcelona), Steve McClaren (FC Twente and VFL Wolfsburg) and Roy Hodgson (Inter Milan and Udinese).
So with all that said, what is it? Why do British players struggle leaving and settling abroad? Three reasons might explain the mystery behind this:
English Premier League (EPL): As we said before, the EPL is the best league in the world. It’s games are well known for being fast paced, physical and unpredictable. The third reason may be the key behind all this. The fact that the league is so unpredictable makes it exciting and encourages players to stay in the EPL.
In England, there are literally no easy games and everyone has a chance to win. Just before the international break, we saw Liverpool fall 2-0 to recently promoted Burnley. Not to mention the magic of the FA Cup gives all teams a real chance to compete and take home a piece of silverware. With all this in mind, no British player would want to leave the EPL unless they receive an offer from a European giant like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
Technical Skills: Despite what many people will have you believe, British players aren’t exactly the most technically gifted players in the world. Long balls, speed and strength are some of the things that define the British style of play. However, when you take a closer look, British players lack the technical skills that most foreign players have when they come to the EPL.
Something countries like Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands and even Italy have all taken advantage of. Playing in the Premier League, most of these players look world class. The problems come when they go abroad, where they are forced to rely more on their ball control and passing (something they lack). Henceforth, why most of them end returning sooner rather than later.
The British Mentality: Don’t ask us how to describe it and we don’t want to go too in detail with this, but generally British people like staying close to home. Maybe they feel that the best place to learn is being at home or that they don’t need to learn another language because English is the universal language.
Whatever the case is, the British aren’t huge fans of living abroad. Another reason why they don’t last long in foreign leagues. The language barrier and cultural shock is so big, it makes it hard for them to adjust and get use to the day to day life. Resulting once again in their return to the islands.
