Football League to England team

By Henry Church Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/15 18:43:40

Loan deals and fresh starts see Three Lions squad rise up divisions


England midfielder Mason Mount controls the ball during the Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic on October 11 in Prague. Photo: IC



Former footballer Richard Cresswell thinks that Leeds United's playmaker Kalvin Phillips should be in the England squad. The retired journeyman striker, who played for Leeds and both Sheffield sides, tweeted just that last weekend in the days following England's shock defeat away to the Czech Republic in Prague.

It is certainly not out of the question that he will play in the future but that is likely to be on of two things happening: The 23-year-old helping his hometown club to promotion back to the English Premier League or him being signed by a top-flight club.

While Cresswell is biased about Phillips being the head of the Leeds United Academy from which the midfielder graduated to being a key player for Marcelo Biesla's first-team side, Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has made it clear that Championship experience is no obstacle to playing for him in an England shirt. If anything it is beginning to look like a prerequisite.

One-club men

Of the 23-man squad named for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, there were only a handful of players without experience in the English lower leagues. Marcus Rashford has only played for Manchester United, all of Jadon Sancho's first-team football has come since leaving Manchester City for German side Borussia Dortmund and Raheem Sterling has only played in the Premier League at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Elsewhere, Trent Alexander-Arnold knows nothing other than Liverpool, Declan Rice is in the same situation with West Ham United and Harry Winks at Tottenham Hotspur. That's 17 of the last 23 who have spent at least part of their career below the top flight. While those players mentioned above are relatively young - Sterling is the oldest of the six at 24 - they are far from the least experienced in the squad. In fact it is Sterling along with his former Liverpool teammate Jordan Henderson who are the seasoned veterans of Southgate's squad with 54 caps each.

Sancho is the youngest in the 23 and the only teenager at just 19, but those who have followed him in getting their Three Lions call-up have a number of different experiences to call on. Chelsea's Mason Mount spent last season on loan at Derby County and playing under Frank Lampard on a daily basis has clearly given the new Stamford Bridge boss the belief he can trust his midfielder.

Mount's Chelsea teammate Tammy Abraham has also been given the nod by Southgate on the back of his goal-scoring form in his first Premier League season. The striker was on loan at Aston Villa last time out and was key to the club getting back to the promised land through the playoffs. Abraham was given abuse for his Premier League debut on the opening day, where Chelsea lost 4-0 to Manchester United, but he has scored eight goals since and leads the scoring charts alongside Sergio Aguero.

Vital experience

The loan system is a key part of these players' football educations. When it works, as it did with Mount and Abraham who made 35 and 37 appearances at their loan clubs last season respectively, then it is a vital part of player development. England skipper Harry Kane was sent on loan, as was Ross Barkley.

Several of this England squad were not at Premier League clubs when they started their careers. Callum Wilson was at League One side Coventry City and spent five years there before moving to Bournemouth, who at the time were still in the Championship before he fired them to the Premier League.

Jordan Pickford is well-traveled. Like Wilson he went on loan to Conference sides but then got the full set of League Two, League One and Championship clubs before making his Premier League debut with parent club at the age of 21 to give him the full set of England's top five leagues.

Fellow goalkeeper Nick Pope has been lower down still to the eighth tier of English football when he was 16, while the other one of England's shot stoppers Dean Henderson has been to the sixth tier on loan as part of his well-traveled education.

Even those players who have come through the ranks at Premier League academies might have to make the decision to leave to open up the pathway to playing professionally. Michael Keane had to leave Manchester ­United to get first-team football and did so with side Burnley, who were relegated to the Championship months after his loan deal was made permanent. Like Wilson he was promoted at the first attempt on his return to the second tier - he had been on loan at three different Championship clubs already - and has been a Premier League player ever since.

Kieran Trippier might be lighting up Spain's La Liga since leaving Spurs for Atletico Madrid in the summer but his breakout as a professional was in the less salubrious surroundings of Turf Moor. The fullback was a Manchester City youth teamer but he too had to leave and after several loan spells he went to Burnley on a permanent move. He played all 46 games of that first season in the Championship and was named as the club's player of the year. He's hardly looked back since.

It's a unique situation that speaks to the strength of the Championship and the leagues below it as much as it does to the loan system and the fact that Premier League clubs need it as much as the lower leagues given their propensity to stockpile talent. It certainly adds a frisson of excitement for fans at those clubs, as they may being not just the stars of the future but their potential national heroes in the flesh for their clubs. 

Despite the shock loss in Prague - in large parts this was the side that got to the semifinals of the World Cup in Russia last summer only to lose to Croatia - as long as Southgate remains in charge, there's little reason to believe the policy will change anytime soon.

Posted in: SOCCER

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