Haaland, Kane, Grealish: The best footballer from every English county named
Earlier this year, using a graphic posted on reddit, we listed the biggest clubs in each of England’s 48 counties.
Among the clubs that weren’t named the biggest in their counties included Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But what about the best footballers in every English county?
That was a topic tackled by The Athletic at the back end of 2021.
They named the ‘most significant current player’ to have emerged from every English county – male or female.
The Athletic looked at players’ childhood home – rather than their birthplace – to distinguish which county they represented.
View every counties best current player below… click here to view a more detailed breakdown on The Athletic’s findings.
(Counties sorted from north to south)
Northumberland — Dan Burn, Newcastle United
Tyne and Wear — Jordan Henderson, Liverpool
Durham — Steph Houghton, Manchester City Women
Cumbria — Dean Henderson, Manchester United
North Yorkshire — Ben Godfrey, Everton
East Yorkshire — Daniel James, Leeds United
West Yorkshire — Erling Haaland, Borussia Dortmund
South Yorkshire — Kyle Walker, Manchester City
Lancashire — Scott McTominay, Manchester United
Greater Manchester — Phil Foden, Manchester City
Merseyside — Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool
Cheshire — Jesse Lingard, Manchester United
Staffordshire — Aaron Ramsdale, Arsenal
Derbyshire — Millie Bright, Chelsea Women
Nottinghamshire — Patrick Bamford, Leeds United
Leicestershire — Che Adams, Southampton
Rutland — ?
Lincolnshire — Sam Clucas, Stoke City
Shropshire — Joe Hart, Celtic
Herefordshire — Jarrod Bowen, West Ham United
West Midlands — Jack Grealish, Manchester City
Northamptonshire — Ivan Toney, Brentford
Worcestershire — Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund
Warwickshire — Ben Foster, Watford
Bedfordshire — Ben Chilwell, Chelsea
Buckinghamshire — Leah Williamson, Arsenal Women
Cambridgeshire — Nick Pope, Burnley
Norfolk — Todd Cantwell, Norwich
Suffolk — Matthew Clarke, West Brom (on loan from Brighton)
Hertfordshire — Ashley Young, Aston Villa
Essex — Josh Cullen, Anderlecht
Greater London — Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur
Kent — Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Chelsea
East Sussex — Lewis Dunk, Brighton
West Sussex — Adam Webster, Brighton
Hampshire — Mason Mount, Chelsea
Isle of Wight — Simon Moore, Coventry City
Surrey — Luke Shaw, Manchester United
Berkshire — Fran Kirby, Chelsea Women
Wiltshire — Tyrone Mings, Aston Villa
Oxfordshire — Callum O’Dowda, Bristol City
Gloucestershire — Eric Dier, Tottenham
Bristol — Joe Bryan, Fulham
Somerset — Jack Butland, Crystal Palace
Dorset — Ben White, Arsenal
Devon — Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa
Cornwall — Jack Stephens, Southampton
The Athletic couldn’t find one player to have come from Rutland so left them blank.
Four women feature. Houghton, Brighton, Williamson and Kirby have been named the most notable current players from Durham, Derbyshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire respectively.
Seven of the players are goalkeepers, including Pope (Cambridgeshire) and Moore (Isle of Wight).
While a total of five players have chosen to represent other nations.
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James plays for Wales, Cullen and O’Dowda feature for Republic of Ireland, Adams turns out for Scotland, and Haaland represents Norway.
Haaland qualifies as he was born in West Yorkshire and spent the first three years of his life there, before moving back to Norway in 2004.
Among the England internationals that aren’t considered the best player in their county include Harry Maguire, Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho and James Ward-Prowse.
Ward-Prowse (Hampshire) misses out to Mount, Maguire (South Yorkshire) misses out to Walker while Rice, Sterling and Sancho (Greater London) miss out to Kane.
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