4 English youngsters who have decided to play abroad

#2 Ronaldo Vieira – Sampdoria

Midfielder Ronaldo Vieira has moved to Serie A's Sampdoria

Sampdoria’s recent announcement on social media that they’d signed Ronaldo raised more than a few eyebrows, but of course, they hadn’t gazumped fellow Serie A side Juventus for the signature of Portugal’s Cristiano. Instead, they’d completed a move for Leeds United’s England under-21 international Ronaldo Vieira. If that sounds like an odd name for an English player, it might be because he actually moved to England from Portugal in 2011.

Vieira broke into the Leeds' first team in 2016/17 and prior to his move to Italy, he’d made more than 40 appearances for the Yorkshire side. At just 20 years old, the midfielder posted some impressive stats in 2017/18 – in a game against Burton Albion on Boxing Day 2017 for instance, he had a pass accuracy of 91%, had 73 touches and made 56 passes.

The Guinea-Bissau-born youngster also starred in the summer’s Toulon Tournament for England’s U-21 side, as they retained the trophy they previously won in 2017. It will be interesting to see whether he can succeed at Sampdoria – who have a history of signing English players, as Trevor Francis, Des Walker, David Platt and Lee Sharpe have all played there before.