While Trent Alexander-Arnold’s summer move will see him join forces with compatriot Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid, the number of English players in LaLiga, both past and present, remains surprisingly low.
According to data from transfermarkt.comonly 24 Englishmen have ever appeared in the Spanish top flight. That does exclude English-born players who represented other countries at international level such as former Osasuna forward Michael Robinson, but it’s still a very small figure, particularly when you consider how many Spanish players have moved in the opposite direction in recent years.
The English players that have opted for a new life in Spain, haven’t tended to stay for more than a few years, with only two clocking up more than 100 appearances in Spain’s top tier.
One of the few English players to end up spending a large chunk of their career in Spain, Vinny Samways spent six years at Las Palmas between 1996 and 2002, before leaving Gran Canaria to spend a season at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan with Sevilla.
It’s at Las Palmas where he is most fondly remembered, with Samways skippering the Canary Islanders around the turn of the century, and helping them win promotion to the top flight in 2000. The midfielder was already in his 30s when he made his LaLiga debut later that year, but he still went on to appear 74 times in the competition.
The first of a growing list of English players to play for Real Madrid, Laurie Cunningham was something of a trailblazer when he left West Brom to sign for Los Blancos in 1979.
Cunningham was part of Madrid’s double-winning squad in his debut season in Spain, but injuries would later contribute to his time at the Bernabeu turning somewhat sour, and his final appearances in the Primera Division came during a loan spell at Sporting Gijon in the 1983/84 season.
That wasn’t the end of Cunningham’s Spanish adventure though, with the London-born winger going on to have two spells at Rayo Vallecano in the second tier. He had just helped Rayo clinch promotion to the top flight, when he was tragically killed in a car crash on the outskirts of Madrid in July 1989 at the age of just 33.
The second English player to represent Real Madrid, and one of the most impactful British players in LaLiga, Steve McManaman wore the famous white shirt between 1999 and 2003.
McManaman won the Primera Division twice, before ultimately falling victim to the club’s Galactico policy at the time, which left him facing fierce competition in midfield from the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, with the arrival of fellow Englishman David Beckham effectively spelling the end for Macca.
Despite that, the ex-Liverpool man is still remembered fondly in the Spanish capital, with his standout moment unquestionably being his goal in the 2000 Champions League final against Valencia.
While the number of English players to play for Barcelona was relatively high during the club’s early years, only one has represented the club since the first edition of LaLiga in 1929.
Gary Lineker is that man, with one of the all-time great English strikers spending three years at Camp Nou in the late 1980s.
Lineker’s time in Spain is largely seen as a success on a personal level, with 42 goals in 103 appearances in LaLiga also making him the highest-scoring English player in the history of the Spanish top flight, although Bellingham is already well on his way towards surpassing that mark.
His finest hour in Spain was a hat-trick in El Clasico during his debut season, but having been moved to a less familiar wide role, Lineker joined Tottenham in 1989 at the end of Johan Cruyff’s first season as coach.
The summer of 2003 saw one of the highest profile transfers in the 21st Century take place as David Beckham left Manchester United to join Real Madrid and complete a star-studded midfield.
At the time, Beckham was one of the most famous people on the planet, and his arrival in the Spanish capital certainly generated a media frenzy. Beckham went on to spend four seasons playing for Los Blancos, clocking up 116 league appearances, a number that no other English player has since surpassed.
While he unquestionably still goes down as one of the best English players in LaLiga, Beckham’s stint in Spain did not deliver anywhere near as much silverware as he’d have envisaged. Real Madrid did win the title during his final year at the club, but otherwise, Becks had just a solitary Supercopa winners medal to show for his time in Iberia.
| Player | Club | Appearances |
| David Beckham | Real Madrid | 116 |
| Gary Lineker | Barcelona | 103 |
| Steve McManaman | Real Madrid | 94 |
| Laurie Cunningham | Real Madrid, Sporting Gijon | 74 |
| Vinny Samways | Las Palmas, Seville | 74 |
| Kieran Trippier | Atletico Madrid | 68 |
| Jude Bellingham | Real Madrid | 59 |
| Kevin Richardson | Real Sociedad | 37 |
| Michael Owen | Real Madrid | 36 |
| Mason Greenwood | Getafe | 33 |
Michael Owen was another headline-grabbing English arrival at the Bernabeu in the 2000s, but the striker could only manage 13 goals in 36 appearances in LaLiga before returning to England to join Newcastle after just one season in Spain.
That’s still enough to see Owen make the top 10 in terms of total appearances in the Spanish Primera Division by English players. Mason Greenwood and Kieran Trippier have also enjoyed relative success playing in Spain in recent years, for Getafe and Atletico Madrid respectively.
Going a bit further back, Real Sociedad had a period of targeting British and Irish players shortly after they changed their “Basque only” policy, with Kevin Richardson and Dalian Atkinson both appearing for the club during the 1990/91 season, before both moved to Ron Atkinson’s Aston Villa at the end of the campaign.
Madrid derbies next season could feature three English players for the first time, with Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold set to come up against Atletico’s Conor Gallagher who will be heading into his second campaign in Spain.
Max Aarons is the only other English player in LaLiga now, although he’s only on loan at Valencia and is expected to return to Bournemouth this summer, with Los Che unlikely to take up their buy option.
