The captain of England, a superstar Galactico and a Manchester United outcast were among the best Brits to play away from home this season
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Over the last few months, we at GOAL have been keeping a close eye on the Britons plying their trade abroad. Every week, we've checked in with the creme de la creme on the continent and beyond.
It only seemed fair for us to go ahead and round off the season by ranking our finest exports. Not every voyage beyond the Channel has been a triumphant one – Dele Alli was sent off a few minutes into his only Como appearance and poor Ruben Loftus-Cheek was cut down by injuries again, for example – but there have been some huge success stories of Brits leaving home and it's time to give them their flowers.
Here are the 20 best Brits who played abroad during 2024-25, ranked:
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images Sport20Kyle Walker (AC Milan)
Of AC Milan's many Brits to feature on this list, Kyle Walker ranks the lowest. None of them had particularly fantastic seasons; it's more that his stint at San Siro was the shortest, only joining on loan from Manchester City in January.
Walker's start to life in Italy was competent enough for the Rossoneri to think their season was heading for a turnaround, but once his body started to fail him and the team started to falter in similar regard, there was no road left to find redemption. He could yet remain in Italy, though, following Max Allegri's return as manager.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport19Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan)
When Fikayo Tomori was previously snubbed from the England squad, there was deserved outrage and backlash. Nowadays, he's less than an afterthought in Three Lions discussions.
Tomori was Milan's hero upon winning the 2021-22 Scudetto and subsequent run to the Champions League semi-finals. He therefore has a pedigree that the Rossoneri's other centre-backs don't have, yet he was seldom as reliable under the brightest spotlight this season and came close to leaving for Tottenham midway through the campaign. It wasn't a year, rather an underwhelming one.
Getty Images Sport18Tammy Abraham (AC Milan)
Poor Tammy Abraham has been absolutely decimated by injuries over the last few years. Last August, he was shipped out by Roma to Milan on a season-long loan with a heavy weight of expectation upon him given the Rossoneri's desperate need for a No.9 that was a prolific scorer.
In all competitions, Abraham at least grabbed 10 goals, including a stoppage-time winner against Inter in the Coppa Italia semi-finals that made him a fan favourite, but this was far from a vintage campaign. Out of all of Milan's Englishmen, he was the best of the bunch, yet is still being sent back to the Italian capital.
AFP17Charlie Cresswell (Toulouse)
EFL fans, and particularly those of a Leeds United or Millwall persuasion, will remember Charlie Cresswell as one of the second tier's most hyped centre-back prodigies. Instead of continuing his development in his homeland though, he joined French side Toulouse last summer and hasn't looked back.
A monster in the air in both boxes, Cresswell is now one of Ligue 1's most underrated prospects and is probably only a year away from an even bigger move. This summer, he will play for a heavily-favoured England Under-21s at the European Championship as the squad's second-most capped player after Liverpool's Harvey Elliott, so he's in esteemed company.
