6 best British players who have been successful abroad

Over the years, England have produced several fantastic players with a big percentage of them playing in the top-flight football domestic league with prestigious clubs such like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.However, not all English players, throughout their career have remained concentrated to the Premier League with some players keen to play their football abroad their parental league. Few tasted success while the others, who struggled to fit in a different league of squad returned back.Here, in this slideshow, we take a look at 5 such best English players who’ve performed well in other countries:

#6 Owen Hargreaves

Hargreaves during his times at the Allianz Arena.

Unlike the other famous English footballers, Owen Hargreaves, very much known as the hard-working and solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball and provide his teammates with possession, started his senior career at Bayern Munich.

At the age of 16, Hargreaves joined Bayern Munich’s youth team and coming up to the ranks, to make his first senior appearance for the club on 12th of August 2000, coming on as a substitute on the 83rd minute. He enjoyed a successful time at the German club, making 210 appearances for the Bavarians and scoring 10 goals in the process which led to the club, winning 4 Bundesliga titles, 3 DFB Pokal, a DFB Liga Pokal, am UEFA Champions League and an Intercontinental Cup.

He left Bayern Munich after the 2006-07 season to join Manchester United. He won his first and only Premier League title and his second UEFA Champions League during the 2007-08 season. He joined Manchester City during the 2011-12 season on a one-year contract.

Hargreaves is one of the two English players to have won a UEFA Champions League medal with a non-English club.

#5 Steve McManaman

Because of his great skill and dribbling ability, Steve McManaman was leveled as one of the best young English talents during the mid-90’s. Both being fierce rivals, Shane McManaman abilities were considered to be similar to Ryan Giggs.

After a successful nine years at Liverpool, McManaman moved to Real Madrid as Guus Hiddink’s last signing for the club for the 1999-00 season. McManaman was the second English player to play for a Spanish team after Lineker played for Barcelona.

During McManaman’s stay at the club for four seasons, he made 152 appearances, netting 14 times and winning the La Liga, the Supercopa de Espana and the UEFA Champions League twice and an UEFA Super Cup and a Intercontinental Cup in the process.

With the dusk of his career, he returned to the Premier League to play for Manchester City in the 2003-04 season.

#4 David Beckham

David Beckham is arguably the most popular footballer of all time, the first to land the bridge between football and entertainment.

After a successful 11 years at Manchester United (including a loan to Preston North End), Beckham joined the Spanish champions Real Madrid during the 2003-04 season for an agreed sum of €35. He made 155 appearances for the Galácticos, scoring 20 goals. Despite being part of the team that included greats of the game such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo, Beckham’s career at the club didn’t see him win a lot of silverware. His solitary La Liga title came in his last season for the club, his only trophy with Real Madrid other than the Supercopa de Espana in 2003.

Beckham’s involvement with the Major League Soccer was confirmed when he was still playing for Real Madrid player. On the 11th of January, it was announced that David Beckham will be leaving the Bernabeu in six months to play for the MLS team, LA Galaxy with a 5-year contract, worth US$32.5 million in total or $6.5 million per year. During his 5-years at the club, besides winning the MLS Cup and the MLS Supporter’s Shield twice, Beckham was loaned out to AC Milan on two separate occasions and became the first English player therefore, to have played for the top clubs of the English, Spanish and Italian league.

The 2013 winter’s transfer window saw David Beckham join the French outfits Paris Saint Germain on the deadline day after undergoing a medical, confirming in the process that his salary will be donated to a local childrens charity. He became the 400th player to have appeared for PSG in the club's history after coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute against Olympique Marseille. After PSG beat Lyon 1-0 to claim the Ligue 1 title, Beckham won a fourth different top flight winner’s medal.

On 16th of May 2013, Beckham announced his retirement from football, becoming one of the most recognizable faces of all sport over the last two decades.

Being part of the famous Galacticos has to be one of Beckham’s career highlights, and an archived video of a training session featuring Beckham and the other Galacticos is something that you must not miss:

#3 Gary Lineker

Gary Lineker had started his career at Leicester City and proved his mettle in the country with stints at the club and later with Everton. A striker by position, Lineker made 216 appearances for Leicester City, bagging 103 goals in the process. He increased his goal tally in the country further with the Toffees, scoring 38 goals in 52 of the matches he had represented Everton in, resembling a successful start of a career in England.

Lineker won the Golden Boot award at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, attracting a move to Barcelona for £2,800,000. Following the move, there was a never a day of disappointment for the Catalan supporters, who were witness to his 21 goals in 41 outings for the club in his debut season, including a hat-trick over rivals Real Madrid in a 3-2 win.

In his 3 years stay at Barcelona, Lineker made 138 appearances for the Catalans, netting 52 times and in the process winning the Copa Del Rey and the European Cup WInner’s Cup, once each. He returned back to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur for the 1989-1990 season.

Here is his infamous hat-trick against rivals Real Madrid:

#2 Kevin Keegan

Kevin Keegan has been described as arguably the first English player to attract the modern media spotlight. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, Keegan enjoyed his time at the club scoring 22 goals in his 141 appearances for the club. After 3 successful seasons at Scunthorpe United, Keegan joined Liverpool for an agreed sum of £35,000. He made 323 appearances for the club scoring 100 goals.

Despite attracting interest from many of the top European clubs, Keegan made up his mind to join German side Hamburger SV for £500,000. Kevin, while his stay at the club for three seasons, made 125 appearances and bagged 43 goals.

Although he might not have enjoyed his 1st season in Germany as he wanted to with Hamburger SV finishing 10th in the league table, his 12 goals for the club led him to an individual honor. He won the European Footballer of the Year for the preceding season. The 1978-79 season saw Hamburger SV, win its first league title in history which was also the lone domestic title won by Keegan. In 1979, for the second time in his career, he won the prestigious Ballon d'Or, making him the best player in the continent once again.

His final 1979-80 season for the club say them finish as the runner-up and as a finalist in the European Cup, having lost to Nottingham Forest for the title. Keegan left Hamburger SV and joined Southampton for the 1980-81 season.

#1 John Charles

“We cry for a great champion and a great man. John was a person who interpreted the spirit of Juventus in the best possible manner, and also represented the sport in the best and purest way.”

— then Juventus vice-president Roberto Bettega.

John Charles was rated as the best all-round British player by many. After a successful 9 years spell at Leeds United, Charles moved to Juventus in August, 1957 for a then British record £65,000 transfer fee. He made his debut on the 8th of September, 1957 against Hellas Verona.

In his debut season at Italy for the Turin-based club, John Charles was the league’s top scorer with 28 goals. The same season, he was voted as the player of the season as Juventus won the league title.

Charles was associated with Juventus for 5 seasons, making 165 appearances, scoring 105 times. He won the Italian League 3 times and the Coppa Italia 2 times during his stay at Turin. On the occasion of the club's centenary in 1997, the fans voted him as the best-ever foreign player to play for Juventus. He had also earned a nomination for the Ballon d'Or in the 1959 season but came third with Alfredo di Stefano and Raymond Kopa bagging the first two spots.

The time period between 1962-1963 saw him return back to England, moving back to Italy to play for Roma and again, returning back to the United Kingdom to play for Cardiff City.

Edited by Staff Editor