Younger players are heading further afield as a path to first-team football and it’s benefiting national teams
G areth Southgate was still beaming when he arrived at the ground. There had been just enough time to watch Ben Stokes produce the innings of a lifetime to lead England’s cricket team to victory in the Ashes third Test before the manager of England’s football team left his hotel and made the 12km journey south to Leganés. It was late August, he had come to see Kieran Trippier play for Atlético Madrid and by the end of a good day for English sport, he decided he liked what he saw. Four days later, the full-back returned to the national squad.
Trippier started in the team that beat Bulgaria 4-0 at Wembley; coming on to join him was Jadon Sancho, the Borussia Dortmund winger who had made his debut in October last year. A month on, they have been called up again. Sancho became the 25th man to represent England while playing abroad, Trippier the 26th. They are the first since David Beckham, formerly of Real Madrid but by then of LA Galaxy, bowed out in 2009.
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