Brits abroad: Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane & Co. - why are more foreign teams signing British players?

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 Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane & Co. - why are more foreign teams signing British players?

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The Premier League is one of the most admired divisions in world football. Players flock from every corner of the globe to try to make it in the English top-flight. That has meant that, in the past, most British players haven't had to travel very far to play for a top-quality team, and have often preferred the creature comforts of playing on home soil. During the Three Lions so-called 'Golden generation' all of the stars (perhaps excluding David Beckham) spent the bulk of the prime years of their careers playing in the Premier League. At the 2010 World Cup, every player in England's squad played in the English top-flight. The only other nations that could say the same, in that their entire squad played in their own domestic league, were Italy and Germany.



Nowadays things are different, and there has been a huge change in the number of top British talents heading to foreign leagues to make their mark. Jude Bellingham, one of the world's most valuable players at €180m, has spent the last six seasons outside of the British Isles, having played for Borussia Dortmund and now Real Madrid. Harry Kane traded Tottenham for Bayern Munich, and many other Brits are following suit, including Bellingham's younger brother Jobe, who left Sunderland to join Dortmund this summer. Full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold is also a Madrid player, while Liverpool's Jarell Quansah is also closing in on a big-money move to Bayer Leverkusen.


Is more money being spent on British players by foreign clubs?


When we crunch the data, the answer is an emphatic yes. As illustrated in the graphic below, we can see a sharp rise in spending by non-British clubs on British players since the 2023/24 season. Before that, the most ever spent in a single season came in 2013/14, where a total of €113m was spent, but €101m of that came from Real Madrid's signing of Gareth Bale alone. When we look back at the last 15 seasons, there was a huge change in 2023/24 (€289m spent), the summer in which Kane (€95m) and Bellingham (€113m) completed high-profile moves, and that trend has continued ever since.



Last summer, a further €213m was spent on British players, including €42m moves for Connor Gallagher and Ivan Toney to Atlético Madrid and Al-Ahli respectively. This habit looks set to continue this summer. With July still to come, foreign clubs have already spent €80m on British stars. This includes Jobe Bellingham's €30.5m move to Dortmund, and Alexander-Arnold's move to the Santiago Bernábeu, which cost Real Madrid €10m in compensation to sign him early for the Club World Cup. Quansah looks set to join Leverkusen for a fee in the region of €42m, while other British stars such as Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Andy Robertson could all feasibly sign for non-British teams this summer.



Above is a list of the top 10 most expensive British signings to non-British clubs. As shown in the graphic, eight of the top 10 deals have come since 2021, with Bale (2013/14) and Beckham's (2003/04) respective moves to Real Madrid the only exceptions. Last season, Scotsman Scott McTominay was named Serie A Player of the Season after leading Napoli to the Scudetto. England captain Kane was named Bundesliga Player of the Season after winning the title with Bayern Munich, while Bellingham continues to shine for Real Madrid. The impact British players are having on the continent is higher than ever before.


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