The Ex-Pat Report: How England's Stars Abroad Got On This Weekend

The Ex-Pat Report: How England's Stars Abroad Got On This Weekend

History has been littered with English stars moving abroad, with names as storied as David Beckham and Steve McManaman, both of whom famously wore the white of Real Madrid. Or we can go back even further and use perhaps the most successful example, back-to-back Ballon d'Or winner Kevin Keegan, who won football's most prized individual award twice in a row whilst at Hamburg.

Despite this, there has always been somewhat of a taboo about English players moving abroad; maybe it's just selfishness that we as a country just want to keep our best players in our domestic league simply to be able to set eyes on them more often. Even when it's in the players' probable best interest, we try and keep them at home and pull out all the stops to do so.

Now though we have a flurry of top English talent plying their trade across the continent, and we might even have history repeat itself with an English striker winning the Ballon d'Or whilst at a German club! Unsurprisingly this refers to the national team captain Harry Kane, who is putting up frankly alien numbers for the Bavarian side, but his weekend and season will be analysed properly in a minute.

This blog is simply to round up how some of our top players are getting on abroad and showcase why we should maybe let them do it a bit more often - it seems to be going pretty well!

Harry Kane

Bayern Munich 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen | Bundesliga | Minutes Played - 31' | G/A - 0

Ironically, after all the hype I've just given him, Kane didn't actually do very much this weekend; in fact, he didn't even start. Realistically this is purely because head coach Vincent Kompany is saving him for the side's giant Champions League clash against PSG on Tuesday; however, if anyone reading wants to use this for an anti-Kane agenda, I suppose I can't really stop you.

The England captain was put on the bench in favour of summer signing Nicholas Jackson against 2023/24's invincible title winners, Bayer Leverkusen. The league leaders, Munich, put on a dominant display to continue their flawless run with a 3-0 victory, with goals coming from Gnabry, Jackson and an unfortunate own goal by Bade.

But back to the main focus, Harry Kane. In his 31 minutes of substitute appearance, he managed one blocked shot, 90% pass accuracy and 100% long ball accuracy as per SofaScore. He really doesn't seem to be helping himself with the any position but a striker jokes.

He may not have had his best showing over the weekend, but the story of his season so far is nothing short of phenomenal. In the Bundesliga alone he currently has 12 goals and 3 assists in 9 games, in the Champions League he has 5 goals in 3 games, and in the DFB Pokal he has 4 goals in 2 games.

Kylian Mbappé in 17 games: 🇫🇷🌟
⚽️ 21 goals
🅰️ 4 assists
🎯 7 penalties

Erling Haaland in 16 games: 🇳🇴🌟
⚽️ 26 goals
🅰️ 3 assists
🎯 1 penalty

Harry Kane in 18 games: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌟
⚽️ 25 goals
🅰️ 3 assists
🎯 7 penalties pic.twitter.com/bUhD6NK9SE

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) November 3, 2025

Assuming Bayern go on to retain their Bundesliga title, and maybe clinch the DFB Pokal too, and England potentially win the World Cup next summer, there is a genuine potential that the man who formerly faced constant jokes of no trophies gets his hands on football's ultimate individual prize.

Jude Bellingham

Real Madrid 4-0 Valencia | La Liga | Minutes Played - 90' | G/A - 1

Over in Spain, England proudly boasts two stars currently playing either side of arguably footballs biggest rivalry, the 'El Classico'. These two are, of course, Jude Bellingham, who is one of the major players at Real Madrid, while Marcus Rashford is having somewhat of a resurgence for Barcelona.

First we're going to be talking about Bellingham. His season started slowly, as he experienced early struggles with completely embedding himself into the plans of new summer appointment Xabi Alonso. In the past month, however, he has begun to show signs of the Bellingham that was being hyped up for a Ballon d'Or of his own in his first season for 'Los Blancos'.

Over the weekend he featured in Madrid's battering of Valencia, popping up with a goal of his own and some impressive creative numbers, namely two key passes and 87% pass accuracy. Furthermore, being given the full 90 minutes showed that his manager is starting to trust in his clear ability and is happy to utilise him as a focal point of the side.

At the time of writing, the Englishman has managed to make this year's edition of the FIFPRO World XI. Maybe English people really can go to Spain for more than cheap pints and getting drunk in the sun.

So far this season Jude has accumulated 1 goal in the Champions League and 2 goals and 1 assist in La Liga. It is certainly not the start he is capable of; however, it's only early days in the campaign, and he's looking increasingly more likely to return to his usual self as the season carries on, so he's certainly one to look out for.

🚨🌎 FIFPRO announced their 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐗𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 only voted by the players! 🌎✨

Any changes you’d personally make to this squad? 👀 pic.twitter.com/rmv6gMnBNG

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 3, 2025

Marcus Rashford

Barcelona 3-1 Elche | La Liga | Minutes Played - 74' | G/A - 1

As mentioned, Rashford is the second of our highlighted players who is currently plying his trade on one side of the Classico divide in Spain. The former Manchester United forward found himself at the Spanish giants following a successful loan spell at Aston Villa. Admittedly, he took a rarely trodden path to the Camp Nou, but it's paid dividends not only for the fact that he managed to escape living in Birmingham but also for his football too. He has been a mainstay in the side, managing to displace Brazilian winger Raphinha on occasion this season.

In the game against Elche last weekend, Marcus Rashford was able to score one and put up some solid creative numbers against the placed side. The victory vaulted Barcelona up to 2nd in the table, five points off of fierce rivals Real Madrid, who lead the charge.

Marcus' current numbers for the season are looking highly promising - he looks well on his way back to the level we saw when he was bursting onto the scene at Manchester United. In La Liga he currently has 2 goals and 4 assists, while he has also notched 4 goals and 1 assist in the Champions League, which included his phenomenal showing against Newcastle.

In a bit of a full circle moment, current reports are suggesting that Harry Kane may end up joining Rashford at Barcelona; whether these end up coming true is anyone's guess, but it's not the first time Kane has been linked with a move away from the Bavarians at the end of the 25/26 season. If the move were to come off, it would be a huge advert for English players moving abroad if England's captain and former golden boy were to line up together for arguably Spain's biggest club.

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane is seriously considering leaving the club next summer for a sensational move to Barcelona.

The England captain’s release clause, set to become active in 2026, is expected to be around €65M.

Kane is weighing up the prospect… pic.twitter.com/jMH8OAVGvs

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) November 2, 2025

The Takeaways

Some of England's top stars are smashing it abroad, and a new wave of opportunities are being pried open ever further. The exploits of Kane, Bellingham and Rashford are illustrating just how well playing abroad can be not only for development but also for enhancing reputation internationally. Who will be next to take the step across the continent? Who knows, but a few have been rumoured.

Adam Wharton is allegedly a high priority to join Bellingham in Madrid, with scouts seeing him as the most typically 'Spanish' midfielder in the world... I get it, but I agree it sounds very strange.

However, this is a great omen for the development of English football - our nation's stars are no longer limited to domestic football, and our reputation for producing all kinds of players is growing exponentially, which can only be fantastic for English football.

Our three highlighted stars are dominating in foreign leagues, and with so many other talents we didn't even get round to, we will no doubt continue to see England's greatest exports ripping up Europe's top five leagues.