10 England Stars With EFL Roots
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10 England Stars With EFL Roots

10 England Stars With EFL Roots

The English Football League, whether you’re a fan of a club from the 72 involved or not, anyone can appreciate what it does for the game. From playoff races to relegation battles, the EFL hosts several huge sleeping giants, yet it also produces some of the greatest talent the country has to offer.

This includes a number of faces involved with the English National Team over the last year or so, who have turned out for the Three Lions in front of a watching nation.

Ezri Konsa

The name Ezri Konsa might not have risen to prominence until his Aston Villa days, but his roots stem from the Valley, home of the South London-based team Charlton Athletic. Born and bred in Newham, Konsa began to cross the River Thames to train with the Addicks at the age of 11.

His first taste of EFL action was spectating from the bench as Charlton were relegated from the Championship in 2016. Konsa went on to spend two glorious years in League One as a starting centre-half at the Valley, creating a strong partnership with Patrick Bauer that led to the Addicks reaching the playoff semi-finals in 2018.

A single Championship season under Dean Smith and then Thomas Frank at Brentford was all it took to earn Konsa a Premier League move to Aston Villa. Since his first England cap 18 months ago, Konsa has made 13 appearances for the Three Lions, playing a valuable role in England’s run to the Euros final last summer.

Morgan Rogers

Before Morgan Rogers made his senior international debut in November 2024, he was simply a childhood West Bromwich Albion fan who had played for his favourite team for nine years by the age of 17.

Rogers’ time at his local side came to an end in 2019 when he joined the Manchester City academy, making just one appearance for WBA at 17. The seven-time capped England star would break out on loan at Lincoln City in League One. Still a teenager, Rogers scored six goals in 25 league games for the Imps, alongside Brennan Johnson, who was also on loan in Lincolnshire that season.

A testing year at Bournemouth under Scott Parker followed, but he was reborn at Blackpool, his performances enough to spark interest from fellow Championship side Middlesbrough. Six months under Michael Carrick created instant profit for Boro. Villa swooped in for the versatile attacker in February 2024, and the rest is history.

Adam Wharton

Heading further North, Adam Wharton is proud to call Blackburn his hometown. Between 2022 and 2024, Wharton would fulfil his dream by making over 50 appearances for the club he grew up supporting, before taking the step up to Premier League level with Crystal Palace.

During his time at the Rovers, who he joined aged 6, Wharton would develop a crucial understanding of the game, which led him to the England first team set-up. There were 16 months between his first and last Championship appearances for the Rovers; however, this time in the EFL has shaped Wharton into what appears to be a future starter in England’s midfield.

John Stones

John Stones is one of Barnsley’s greatest academy products in recent history, and certainly the only one to have made 83 appearances for England. A pillar of the Gareth Southgate era alongside Harry Maguire (we’ll get to him later), Stones only really played half a season for the Tykes in the Championship before he was whisked off to Everton for £3 million.

At the time, he was an 18-year-old right-back who had grown up in a village not far from Barnsley town centre. But without Barnsley and manager Keith Hill trusting him, he may never have gone on to receive inclusions in the UCL Team of the Year and PFA Team of the Year twice.

Ivan Toney

Football is practised in almost every inch and neighbourhood of the county, not just in the larger cities or urban areas. This translates to football teams, as there is plenty of talent outside of Premier League academies. A recurring theme on this list is ballers playing for their hometown EFL clubs before moving on to greater heights, and that is no different for Ivan Toney.

Toney was born in Northampton, came through their academy, and in 2012, eventually became the Cobblers’ youngest-ever player (at the time), aged 16 years and 7 months. Sixty appearances and 13 goals later, Toney made the switch from League Two to the Premier League with Newcastle United.

Unlike others on this list, the forward’s EFL journey was not over yet. Toney would face loans to multiple clubs in the third tier, like Barnsley, Wigan, Scunthorpe, and Shrewsbury, before joining Peterborough permanently. At the age of 22, Toney could’ve assumed he had found his ceiling in League One, but 40 goals in two seasons at London Road caught the eye of Brentford scouts, and then the rest is history.

Toney has made seven appearances for England in total, scoring one goal. After a few months away, he reappeared in the Three Lions’ squad this June to many's surprise due to him currently playing in the Saudi Pro League.

Harry Maguire

Harry Maguire did not fully receive a taste of Premier League football until he was 23, and senior international football arrived even later at the age of 24. Before becoming England’s highest-scoring defender of all-time (7), performing at World Cups and European Championships, Maguire played almost every minute of Sheffield United’s 2011/12, 2012/13, and 2013/14 League One campaigns.

Maguire also started the Blades’ 2013/14 FA Cup semi-final loss against Hull City, the last time a third-tier club reached the final four of the competition. Maguire would then join the Tigers the following summer, playing in the Europa League for them (Hull qualifying for the European competition due to that semi-final victory).

Further EFL experience would be gained at Wigan (on loan) and at Hull City, as he helped the Tigers gain instant promotion back to the top-flight in 2015/16. Maguire’s time with England might be up; the centre-back is clearly not favoured by Thomas Tuchel, but his time with the Three Lions will not be forgotten anytime soon.

Eberechi Eze

A high-profile move to Arsenal and star performances over the last couple of years mean that Eberechi Eze’s youth career is no secret. The No.10 spent years at Arsenal, Fulham, Reading, and Millwall, but it was Queens Park Rangers who truly saw the vision with Eze, giving him a professional contract at 18, when others had simply released him.

Six months of crafting his art on loan in League Two at Wycombe Wanderers was followed by two and a half seasons of greatness in the Championship with QPR. Working under managers Steve McLaren and Mark Warburton, Eze would become one of the most promising attacking midfielders in England. His 2019/20 season saw him score 14 Championship goals, earning him a spot in the PFA Championship Team of the Year.

His Crystal Palace career has been well documented, as has his England career. Eze earned his first call-up back in 2021 but had to remove himself from the squad due to injury. In recent years, he has become a Three Lions regular, scoring his first goal against Latvia back in March, becoming only the second Palace player to score for England.

Dan Burn

North East native, Dan Burn, has had an absolutely unique international career, making his first appearance for his country in March 2025, becoming the oldest England debutant in decades. Burn did not become a Premier League regular until he was 27; in the years prior, he accumulated 132 Championship and 78 League One appearances for Yeovil, Fulham, Wigan, and Birmingham.

Tuchel evidently loves the defender, starting him in three of the last five England games, including Saturday night’s win over Andorra. Burn’s career has seen him jump from non-league football at Darlington to a Premier League move with Fulham, before rebuilding in the EFL. A long road to the top for the longest man in the England squad.

Nick Pope

Growing up as an Ipswich Town season ticket holder, one might assume that Pope made his EFL debut for the Tractor Boys. Yet, after being released by the club at 16, the goalkeeper spent a few years at fellow Suffolk club Bury Town, and their feeder club Team Bury, who operated in the seventh and 10th tiers of England, respectively.

Charlton Athletic scouts would sniff out his talent eventually, with Pope signing for the Addicks aged 19. He made his Championship debut in May 2013, also gaining experience in League Two at Bury FC and York City. After finally breaking into the Charlton first team during the 2015/16 Championship season, it would not take long for Pope to receive an offer from the Premier League, with Burnley coming in for him at the end of the campaign.

It has been seven years since Pope’s first England call-up, and 11 months since his last. Unfortunately, Pope’s career timeline has aligned with Jordan Pickford’s, leaving him with 10 caps, despite spending 38 games sitting on the bench.

Djed Spence

Middlesbrough seem to have a knack for picking out elite English talents who are departing Premier League academies. Hailing from Kensington, Spence was released from Fulham’s academy in 2018, finding his feet at Championship Middlesbrough. In the 2020/21 season, he would make 38 league appearances for Boro under Neil Warnock’s guidance, earning the December Young Player of the Month Award.

His experience in the EFL Championship was furthered on loan at Nottingham Forest in the promotion season. Simply integral to Forest’s shock turnaround under Steve Cooper, Spence was named in every Team of the Season possible, the peak of his season being March 2022, when he won the Player of the Month, Young Player of the Month, and Goal of the Month awards.

Upon arriving at Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, Spence would face a couple of tough seasons, at one point being loaned back to the Championship at Leeds United. Injuries gave Spence the chance to break into Tottenham’s team, finally, leading to his first England call-up in August 2025. In doing so, he became the first openly Muslim to receive a call-up for the Three Lions, a record which would not have been made if it weren’t for his time at the Riverside and City Ground.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

James McLeish

Writer

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