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David Bentley at FC Rostov, anyone?

8 England internationals you totally forgot played in Europe: Crouch, Bentley, Hart…

Marcus Rashford has been linked with a loan move away from Manchester United, with AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund among the clubs on continent reportedly interested in signing the 27-year-old forward.

We all know about the likes of Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho who’ve enjoyed successful spells in Europe alongside the likes of David Beckham, Chris Waddle and Kevin Keegan in years gone by.

But what about the England internationals who made much less high-profile moves overseas? Here are eight Englishmen who had spells abroad that totally went under the radar.

Joe Hart

This one garnered a lot of attention at the time, but already kind of feels like it never actually happened.

After suddenly falling out of favour at Manchester City thanks to Pep Guardiola’s play-it-out-from-the-back demands, Hart spent the Catalan coach’s underwhelmingly trophyless debut season at The Etihad out on loan at Torino.

He was still England’s No.1 back then and started almost every game of the 2016-17 Serie A season, but his reputation took a hit after the club’s chairman Urbano Cairo declared “we didn’t expect so many mistakes from an England international”. Ouch.

Hart subsequently returned to English shores on loan at West Ham before joining Burnley permanently in 2018.

Micah Richards

In fairness, you might recall Richards at Fiorentina because he often brings it up in his post-retirement punditry.

During his time in Florence, the booming-voiced right-back enjoyed a close relationship with Mohamed Salah and was part of an eclectic dressing room that also featured Josip Ilicic, Alberto Aquilani, David Pizarro, Juan Cuadrado, Federico Bernardeschi and Joaquin.

Vincenzo Montella’s side actually finished fourth during Richards’ 2014-15 loan stint and reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and Europa League. But Richards was reduced to a relatively fringe role, making just 14 starts in all competitions.

Teddy Sheringham

Sheringham is quintessentially English football. 1980s Millwall. Two great spells with Spurs. A key part in Manchester United’s 1998-99 treble and memorable stints with Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and West Ham.

But amongst all that, long before he made his England bow, the striker spent a season at Swedish outfit Djurgardens IF as a youngster on loan from Millwall.

He scored 13 goals in 21 appearances in the Swedish second tier, firing the club back to the top flight in 1985. He then returned to Millwall, kicked on and never looked back.

Lee Sharpe

Sharpe’s story is well-worn at this point. A prodigious talent at Torquay United, an early move to Manchester United before falling from grace at Leeds United.

But did you know the winger had not one but two totally forgettable moves abroad?

The first was after he’d fallen out of favour at Elland Road, David O’Leary sending him out to Sampdoria during the 1998-99 campaign. That year he (barely) played under David Platt but returned to England by the time his compatriot had been replaced by a young Luciano Spalletti, with just three appearances in Samp’s ill-fated relegation campaign.

Later on, he spent a brief spell with Icelandic side Grindavik, where he announced his retirement at the age of 32. The following year, 2004, he came out of retirement for a similarly short stint at non-league Garforth Town.


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Peter Crouch

The 6’7″ striker represented 11 clubs in the English game, going from humble beginnings at non-league hipster favourites Dulwich Hamlet to starting a Champions League final for Liverpool. The stuff of dreams, that.

But after his loan stint at Dulwich, Tottenham sent a 19-year-old Crouch out to IFK Hassleholm, who were down in the Swedish third tier at the time. He scored three goals in eight appearances for the club before his parent club sold him to Queens Park Rangers.

We’ve named six of his clubs, there. So you’ve got no excuses for not getting full marks on our Crouchy quiz:

Peter Crouch Celebrating A Goal

QUIZ: Can you name all 11 clubs that Peter Crouch played for?

Ryan Shawcross

England international? Ryan Shawcross? Yep.

We’d forgive you for not remembering his one 16-minute cameo for the Three Lions in a 4-2 friendly defeat to Sweden. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored three goals during the ex-Stoke defender’s very brief international career, including that spectacular long-range bicycle kick.

We’d also forgive you for not remembering that he spent half a season on loan at Royal Antwerp, back when Manchester United frequently sent out their youngsters to gain experience at the Belgian club.

Danny Simpson, Jonny Evans, Fraizer Campbell, Darron Gibson and Ritchie De Laet also spent time at the Bosuilstadion that year.

Ryan Mason

The former Tottenham midfielder features alongside Shawcross in England’s one-cap club.

His early days at Spurs saw him loaned out on no fewer than three separate occasions to Doncaster Rovers, as well as Millwall, Swindon and Yeovil.

Sandwiched somewhere in the midst of that Football League rite of passage was one half season with French side Lorient. He was 21 years of age at the time, but he didn’t make a single appearance for the first team in Ligue 1, instead continuing his development with a handful of games for their reserves.

David Bentley

Believe it or not, Bentley is only a few months older than his former Tottenham team-mate Luka Modric.

While Modric is still playing at the very highest level at Real Madrid, Bentley has been out of the game for well over a decade. He called it quits at the age of 29, stating that he’d fallen out of love with football.

To be fair, we can understand why given the manner in which his career fizzled out with a series of non-descript loans away from Tottenham. Time with Birmingham City, West Ham and a return to Blackburn Rovers failed to rekindle his passion.

In among those was a half a season with FC Rostov, where he became the first Englishman to play in the Russian Premier League. He made eight appearances for the club but failed to notch any goals or assists and his time in the port city was cut short by an ankle injury.