Representing your country is often cited as the highest honour a footballer can achieve. And for a football-mad nation like England, fending off the competition to find a way into the Three Lions set-up is no mean feat.
While the national team’s history is checkered with wonderkids who were stars from an early age, there are others who put in the hard yards in non-league before making it to the big time. Here, Express Sport takes you through five members of Thomas Tuchel‘s first squad who once played their football outside of England’s top four divisions…
Jordan Pickford
A veteran of 73 caps who has been there and done just about everything for England, Pickford is a household name in the Premier League with more than 300 combined appearances for Sunderland and Everton.
But it took six loan spells before the Black Cats finally gave him a first-team chance. And two of them were in non-league, with Pickford going to Darlington as a 17-year-old and making 17 appearances in the fifth tier, and Alfreton Town the following campaign, playing 12 games.
Jarrod Bowen
Although he is now flying high as the West Ham captain and a solid member of the international set-up, Bowen had to fight his way up the English football pyramid. He made his senior breakthrough with National League Hereford United in 2013/14 and played eight times, scoring once, before joining Hull City and spending three seasons as a Championship regular.
Dean Henderson
The goalkeeper needed senior experience while on the books at Manchester United, and his first loan spell away was at Stockport County, who were in the sixth-tier National League North at the time. Henderson enjoyed four further loan stints before establishing himself at Crystal Palace, where he has become the undisputed No. 1 under Oliver Glasner.
Dan Burn
Very much the man of the hour after his goal for Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final, two days after getting his first England call-up, things weren’t always this rosy for Burn. He wasn’t a Premier League regular until his mid-to-late-twenties, and prior to that he spent time with fifth-tier Darlington during his early years as a professional.
Aaron Ramsdale
A 26-year-old goalkeeper who has taken in spells with the likes of Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Arsenal and now Southampton, Ramsdale has been in the England picture for the last four years. But he, too, had humble beginnings, as while on the books of the Blades, he was sent on loan to Worksop Town way down in the Northern Counties East Football League, where he played just once.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk