England star Jude Bellingham has swapped yellow and black for Los Blancos this summer. The midfield wunderkind has signed for Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for an initial reported fee of £88.5 million.
Unlike a lot of elite international sides, England still largely draw from their own domestic league. With a few exceptions, Gareth Southgate largely forms his sides around Premier League players. Bellingham has long been an exception to that rule, with all of his 24 caps to date coming at Dortmund. While Serie A pair Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori have struggled for regular games, Bellingham has been a shoo-in.
In recognition of Bellingham’s career-defining move to the Bernabeu, here are five other Three Lions legends who turned out for clubs abroad while representing their country.
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Kevin Keegan
In amongst becoming an Anfield icon and ‘King Kev’ to fans of Newcastle United, Keegan found time to make his mark abroad. Hamburg fans dubbed the diminutive genius ‘Mighty Mouse’ during his three-year Bundesliga stay. He repaid their affections by winning two European Footballer Of The Year awards during his spell at the club.
Lifting the title and reaching the final of the European Cup with Der Dino, Keegan balanced his talismanic club exploits with his role as England captain. The majority of Keegan’s 21 England goals actually came while plying his trade in Germany.
Gary Lineker
The striker’s prolific ways at Leicester City and Everton caught the attention of Barcelona in 1986. Future England manager Terry Venables brought Lineker to Camp Nou, where the goals continued to flow. While they were no longer the conquerors they once were and would be again, the forward tasted silverware. The Blaugrana lifted the European Cup Winners Cup and Copa Del Rey during his three–year spell.
Lineker was an England regular throughout his La Liga stay and subsequent spell at Tottenham Hotspur. Playing his final Three Lions match in 1992, he would travel abroad once more in 1993. Lineker ended his career in the unusual confines of Japan’s J-League, where he played 24 games for Nagoya Grampus Eight, scoring eight times.
Paul Gascoigne
Despite representing clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United with distinction, ‘Gazza’ is one of those players that is easiest to picture wearing the shirt of his national team. Whether it’s the Italia 90 tears or the Colin Hendry-destroying wonderstrike six years later, Gascoigne is inextricable from the Three Lions.
This love affair spanned oceans when the icon moved to Lazio in the 1990s. Mobbed everywhere he went in Rome and battling conditioning and personal issues, it was a turbulent time for the player. But England was always there for him, a port in stormy waters for the boy from Gateshead. When that safety blanket was wrenched away by Glenn Hoddle in 1998, when ‘Gazza’ was at Middlesbrough, the results would be personally catastrophic.
David Beckham
Even before he ventured outside of his homeland, David Beckham was a global superstar. His glitzy move to Real Madrid in 2003 felt like destiny even before a certain Scot allegedly pinged a football boot at him. At the height of his powers, there was also no question of Beckham’s England game time being eroded by the switch.
Such was Beckham’s work ethic and influence as captain, his presence in the squad even survived his switch from La Liga to the MLS. In what was a particularly unusual turn of events at the time, Beckham continued to turn out for the Three Lions while playing for LA Galaxy. Some dissenting voices questioned it at the time, which feels quaint now given the fact Lionel Messi now calls the US top flight home.
Jadon Sancho
Bringing things bang up to date, Sancho first broke into the England set-up alongside Jude Bellingham at Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga side’s buy-improve-sell remit saw the winger leave before his Three Lions teammate, joining Manchester United in 2021.
Sancho’s best form for both club and country has come during that Dortmund spell. All three of his international strikes arrived before his move to Old Trafford, while Red Devils fans have only seen flashes of what he can do. If Southgate and Erik ten Hag can revive the player that once bewitched Signal Iduna Park, they’ll both reap the rewards.
