You don’t tend to see too many British players leaving England to spread their wings in other major European leagues.
However, it’s certainly becoming more and more fashionable - mainly thanks to Jadon Sancho.
As a 17-year-old, Sancho left Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in the hope for more first-team football.
He got that almost immediately and, thanks to those opportunities, is now one of the most exciting players in world football.
But Sancho is far from the only Brit playing in Europe right now.
In fact, thanks to Planet Football, we’ve identified the 23 players who played in Spain, Italy, Germany and Italy last season.
And asked: ‘How did they get on?’
Kieran Trippier | Atletico Madrid
Trippier joined Atletico Madrid from Tottenham last summer for a fee worth around £20 million. He was disappointing as Atleti lost to RB Leipzig in their Champions League quarter-final but he played 33 times in all competitions and had a decent debut campaign.
Oliver Burke | On loan at Alaves
Burke is only 23 and he’s had quite a career already. At 19, he became the most expensive Scottish player in history when he joined RB Leipzig from Nottingham Forest for £13 million.
He then broke that record he returned to England with West Brom paying £15 million for him.
He spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Alaves, scoring once and providing two assists in 31 La Liga appearances.
Gareth Bale | Real Madrid
I think we all know how Bale’s 2019/20 season went.
Jack Harper | On loan at Alcorcon
Harper was once on Real Madrid’s books before signing for Brighton. However, he returned to Spain to join Malaga before joining Getafe. He spent this past season on loan at Segunda División side Alcorcon, where he made 13 appearances.
Jadon Sancho | Borussia Dortmund
In 32 Bundesliga appearances, Sancho scored 17 goals and registered 17 assists. He’s just 20-years-old. No wonder Dortmund want £110 million for him.
Ademola Lookman | RB Leipzig
Lookman is now 22 and only managed to make one league start for RB Leipzig last season.
Jonjoe Kenny | On loan at Schalke
Kenny has had a brilliant campaign in Germany, making 34 appearances in all competitions. Will Carlo Ancelotti look to use him next season at Everton?
Lewis Baker | Fortuna Dusseldorf
Now 25, it doesn’t look like Baker has a future at Chelsea. He made just nine appearances in all competitions this season in Germany, scored an own goal and was accused of going AWOL by manager Friedhelm Funkel.
Reece Oxford | Augsburg
Oxford has gone from being the youngest player in West Ham’s history to becoming a bit of a flop in Germany. He played just 11 times in the Bundesliga during 2019/20.
Keanan Bennetts | Borussia Monchengladbach
Bennetts signed for Borussia Monchengladbach from Tottenham in 2018 and made his long-awaited debut when he came on in the 90th minute against Wolfsburg on 16 June 2020. At 21, the striker will be looking for more minutes next season.
Ethan Ampadu | On loan at RB Leipzig
Ampadu has already shown his talent at Chelsea but spent 2019/20 on loan at RB Leipzig. He only made seven appearances in all competitions due to injuries but impressed in the Champions League against Tottenham. Frank Lampard could well give him opportunities next campaign.
Rabbi Matondo | Schalke
Schalke signed Matondo from Manchester City for £11 million in January 2019. The 19-year-old Welshman scored twice in 20 appearances and City have €46.5million buyback option.
Chima Okoroji | On loan at Jahn Regensburg
Okoroji was born in Germany to a Nigerian father and an English mother. He was at Bayern Munich for 10 years before moving to Augsburg in 2015 and then Freiburg three years later. He spent the 2019/20 season in the second tier on loan at Jahn Regensburg. He will spend next season on loan at Paderborn.
Antony Evans | Paderborn
The scouser left Everton for Paderborn in January but couldn’t stop them from being relegated this season.
Chris Smalling | On loan at Roma
Let’s not kid ourselves, Smalling has had a brilliant season on loan at Roma. He’s played 37 times in total and helped them to a fifth-placed finish. The 30-year-old is wanted by the Italian club on a permanent basis.
Ronaldo Vieira | Sampdoria
After making 71 appearances for Leeds, Vieira joined Sampdoria for £7million in the summer of 2018. He’s since played 44 times for the Italian club, 29 of those matches coming during the 2019/20 season.
Bobby Duncan | Fiorentina
Steven Gerrard’s cousin and his agent, Saif Rubie, angered Liverpool fans last summer after they accused the club of “mentally bullying” the youngster. He left for Florence in a £1.8 million deal but is yet to play for the first-team.
Liam Henderson | On loan to Empoli
Henderson made 37 appearances for Celtic but moved to Bari in 2018. He signed for Hellas Verona six months later and helped them earn promotion to Serie A.
Aaron Ramsey | Juventus
Ramsey played 90 minutes just once during the 2019/20 season but he did make 35 appearances in all competitions. He’ll be hoping to improve next season.
Ashley Young | Inter Milan
Young has pretty much rejuvenated his entire career at Inter and could end it with a Europa League winners’ medal.
Josh Maja | Bordeaux
For those of you that have watched ‘Sunderland ’Til I Die,’ you’ll know all about Maja. He’s had a decent season in France to be fair, scoring eight goals at a rate of one every 111.75 minutes.
Stephy Mavididi | On loan at Dijon
After eight years at Arsenal, Mavididi signed for Juventus and even made a Serie A appearances for the Italian giants in April 2019. In the 2019/20 season, he was on loan at Dijon in Ligue 1 and scored eight goals in 28 matches. He’s now joined fellow Ligue 1 club, Montpellier, in a €6.3million deal.
Jonathan Panzo | On loan at Cercle Brugge
The former Chelsea youngster joined Monaco in 2018 and played twice in Ligue 1 for them in 2019/20. But he spent the majority of the campaign in Belgium with Cercle Brugge.
