Why don't English players dream of playing abroad?

David Beckham made the switch to La Liga when he left Manchester United to join Real Madrid in 2003

Just another typical summer afternoon, cruising through an exciting season in FIFA 14 and trying to survive a mazy tranfer window having my GTN scouts searching for some new talents, when my search parameters gave me a little shock. You can barely find English talents abroad! Which made me wonder, do the young English starlets never dream of playing abroad?

Well let’s not jump to any conclusions here. We’ve had a lot of Englishmen play abroad, some becoming club legends, such as Gary Lineker and David Beckham, but we’ve also had a our share of Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate. More recently,we’ve had the likes of Joey Barton and Joe Cole plying their trade for a brief period in the French Ligue 1, but most of the others such as David Bentley or Emile Heskey switch countries only to revive their careers.

What really is the underlying factor? Won’t Thomas Ince ever dream of playing for Real Madrid the way Cristiano Ronaldo ever did? We don’t need to really look far for a reason. The English Premier League is arguably the best football league in the world. Its glitz, glamour and (obviously) cash can be a major reason why the youngsters dream of playing in their homeland. Ince would any day prefer a loan move to Crystal Palace than play permanently at Rayo Vallecano.

Another reason could be that England’s “long punt, search for the target man” kind of unsophisticated and predictable approach to football makes for a bad transfer, while scouting and harnessing talents from countries such as Belgium and Croatia seems a much better option. Let’s not forget the hand the Premier League sides have in this, more often than not opting to buy than use homegrown talents.

While a change of surroundings and other off-field factors such as racism do play a critical part, most players don’t brave new leagues, well other than Rohan Ricketts, the journeyman, whose travels have taken him to over five different countries. Adapting to new surroundings can no doubt be very difficult. New food, learning a new language and for most, the relocation of family too is needed. Barring the odd exception such as David Beckham, most players struggle with learning the local language.

The England national side is going to Brazil as massive underdogs. Most of the English players struggle against the slow pace of possession football used by sides such as Spain. Any good side in football must know how to cleverly change the pace of the game. Players playing abroad in a different league, will definitely benefit from being exposed to cultural and varying styles of football. This would have a very positive effect on the national squad which plays a very one dimensional and boring game.

It’s a real shame because some of the players definitely have the potential to shine abroad. Imagine Jack Wilshere’s passing in La Liga or Andy Carroll’s dominance in Serie A. Picture Theo Walcott’s pace in France or Wayne Rooney’s tenacity in the Bundesliga.

Let’s hope some more English talents follow the likes of fellow Brit Gareth Bale and make a move soon to another league.