Gareth Southgate is concerned about the talent pool in the Premier League, but what about abroad?

Gareth Southgate announced his England squad for the upcoming European Championship qualities with a pessimistic undertone.

The England manager bemoaned the diminishing pool of English talent in the Premier League, and illustrated his point with the fact that on a recent Premier League weekend, only 28 per cent of the players starting matches were eligible for the Three Lions.

The remedy, Southgate added, would be found by ‘looking in the Championship or elsewhere’, with the manager citing the fact that England rarely exports players in great numbers. 

Be that as it may, there are a number of high-quality players starting in Europe’s top leagues that might react with a raised-eyebrow to Southgate’s downcast health check on the state of young English prospects. 

Some of them, such as Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham, who are oft-discussed but rarely-used options for England, could wonder whether Southgate pays the necessary attention to clubs outside the Premier League.  

Indeed, Southgate later referenced watching Fikayo Tomori’s match against Tottenham and noted that it ‘had more spotlight’ being played in England, in a comment which might rankle a defender who performs week-in, week-out in Serie A.

But who are the hidden gems that Southgate could be overlooking? Sportsmail casts an eye across Europe to see who might make the England squad should Southgate look a little further afield.

ITALY

Southgate has long been accused of ignoring Serie A as a suitable hunting ground for England starters, and nowhere is this more true than with regards to the careers of Fikayo Tomori and, to a slightly lesser recent extent, Tammy Abraham, as well as Chris Smalling, who has flourished after being reunited with Jose Mourinho.

Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan)

After a loan spell under Frank Lampard at Derby County, Tomori was one of the Chelsea players that benefitted from the west London club’s two-window transfer ban in the 2019-20 season. 

The centre back was a solid yet pacey presence in the Blues’ backline for the first half of the season, and a fan-favourite due to his academy roots, but unexpectedly lost his foothold in the starting XI in early 2020 and plumped for a loan to Milan. 

With the six-month loan successful, neither party passed up the opportunity to make it permanent the following season, with Tomori becoming a first-team fixture in Milan’s Scudetto-winning 2021-22 season. 

When questioned as to why Tomori was rarely considered for international duty – having made just three senior appearances for his country – Southgate cited ‘quite a few errors’ in his game. 

But this response will no doubt attract concern that there is a greater level of scrutiny on England players playing outside the Premier League.  

Samuel Iling-Junior (Juventus)

The 19-year-old was the one bright spot for Juventus as they exited the Champions League at the hands of Benfica, creating two of their three goals in their 4-3 defeat. 

Iling-Junior has since distinguished himself in the Old Lady’s Europa League campaign, and will undoubtedly feature in the quarter-finals against Sporting Lisbon. 

The talented left-winger left Chelsea’s youth set-up after nine years in 2020 to join the Turin-based club, and was handed a new contract following a number of Serie A and European cameos in December 2022. 

A member of England’s Euros-winning Under-19 squad in the summer of 2022, Iling-Junior could yet prove a future star that Southgate would be loath to ignore with regular first-team playing time. 

Chris Smalling (Roma)

Smalling has undergone a huge transformation at Roma since his initial loan move to the Serie A club as his career transitioned from United also-ran to undroppable defensive leader. 

The 33-year-old was man of the match in Roma’s Europa Conference League final, which clinched the Italian side the trophy, and whenever he is absent from the Giallorossi backline, the side’s record is noticeably worse.

Despite this resurgence, Smalling has not been called upon by Southgate during the manager’s tenure, having last featured in England’s 2016 European Championship campaign.

Now captain of Mourinho’s Roma side, Smalling will look to bag the club’s second consecutive European trophy this season with a successful Europa League run.

A number of Premier League teams noted with interest reports that Smalling was keen to be transferred during the upcoming window. 

But it seems that instead, Smalling will look to renegotiate his Roma contract to continue in the Italian capital.   

Tammy Abraham (Roma)

Abraham might have watched his former team-mate Tomori’s rise in Italy and sought to mimic it with his summer 2021 transfer to Roma.

After falling out of favour at Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel, the Blues academy product moved to Serie A and within his first season, became the first English player in thirty years to score more than 10 goals in a Serie A season.

Instrumental in Roma’s aforementioned European victory, his form has stuttered a little of late, but Abraham remains a striker to watch, should Brentford’s Ivan Toney be ruled out as an alternative option to captain Harry Kane. 

GERMANY

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)

Jude Bellingham represents Southgate’s greatest investment beyond the Premier League, with the teenager becoming a regular first-team fixture in Qatar during England’s World Cup campaign. 

But in Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Southgate may yet have another German-bred Dortmund star to consider for international duty. 

Bynoe-Gittens is a year younger than Bellingham but already a presence in the Bundesliga outfit’s senior squad. 

Dortmund’s manager, Edin Terzic called the former Reading and Manchester City academy player ‘a game-changer’ earlier in the season after he made critical impact from the bench in the team’s 3-1 win against Freiburg. 

The 18-year-old, who joined Dortmund in summer 2020, has struggled with a shoulder injury this season, but during his limited Bundesliga appearances, the forward ranks behind only Serge Gnabry and Sadio Mane for shots per 90 minutes, and is ranked first in the league for shots on target. 

FRANCE

Ligue 1 features the greatest number of English players working at the top level abroad, and this season, a number of a high-profile loanees have made a compelling case as to why they should be on Southgate’s radar for international minutes.

Angel Gomes (Lille)

A United academy graduate, Gomes didn’t get his chance to feature in Lille’s Ligue 1 victory two seasons ago, but was perhaps inspired from afar.

After returning from his loan to Boavista, Gomes slowly worked his way up to become a regular fixture for manager Paulo Fonseca, starting 25 of the club’s 27 Ligue 1 matches. 

The attacking midfielder’s superb run of form has seen him seek to emulate City star-man Bernardo Silva, but earned him a call-up to England’s under-21 side during the upcoming international break. 

Djed Spence (Rennes, on loan from Tottenham)

Few Ligue 1 players can claim to have stunned the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, but Spence did so over the weekend, keeping Paris Saint-Germain from consolidating their hold at the top of the league in Rennes 2-0 victory over the Parisian outfit.

Currently on loan from Tottenham after failing to fit into Antonio Conte’s puzzle in north London, the former Nottingham Forest player, who played a key role in their promotion campaign last season, has hit a purple patch in France.

His parent club may be ruing their decision to send him overseas, and will likely welcome him back with open arms after an inconsistent season.

Folarin Balogun (Reims, on loan from Arsenal)

While English coach Will Still has nabbed the lion’s share of the attention during Reims’ 19-game unbeaten run, Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun is the deserving recipient of the remainder.

The 21-year-old is in white-hot form for the French club, who he joined on loan during the summer’s transfer window, and on Sunday became the youngest player in Ligue 1 history to have scored over 17 goals, breaking a 66-year-record. 

Balogun has more than shown he can rise to the big occasion, holding his nerve to swipe a last-gasp equaliser against Paris Saint-Germain, and drawing blood against top-four rivals Monaco earlier in the season. 

THE NETHERLANDS

Jarrad Branthwaite (PSV Eindhoven)

While Premier League clubs have made headlines for recent plundering from the Eredivisie, players travelling the other way have had less of the spotlight. 

But that could all change, with the emergence of a bright new talent making his name at PSV Eindhoven. 

Currently on loan from Everton, his parent club can scarcely await his return after the 20-year-old centre-back’s impressive impact in the Dutch league.

Branthwaite’s time at the Toffees had been patchy, and dotted with periods on loan, but he has found regular playing time at PSV, notching up 19 appearances. 

His performances have gone so far as to catch the eye of Premier League outfits United and Everton’s cross-town rivals Liverpool, with Branthwaite going as far as to mention conversation he had with his former club captain, Cody Gakpo, about the prospect.  

PORTUGAL

Marcus Edwards (Sporting Lisbon)

Spurs fans might have allowed themselves a moment of pleasure when relishing Marcus Edwards’ role in knocking Arsenal out of the Europa League as a key forward for Sporting. 

But a greater hurt might linger, at having cast aside a vibrant and pivotal talent. 

Edwards was a youth player for the north London club, but failed to break in to the senior team after multiple loan spells before being sent to Portuguese club Vitoria de Guimaraes. 

There, he attracted the eye of Sporting, and after joining the club in 2022, went on to punish his former club with a sizzling group-stage performance after drawing Spurs in the Champions League. 

The 24-year-old was capped 49 times at youth level, but has failed to fight his way into the senior team thus far. 

And those that haven’t quite worked out…

Dele Alli was once lauded as England’s star of tomorrow, garnering his first international cap at the age of 19 in 2015. 

Alli travelled to Russia as part of the 23-man squad in the 2018 World Cup, and scored against Sweden in the quarter-finals, but as his domestic career spiraled, so did his international possibilities. 

The former Tottenham player hasn’t been selected by Southgate since 2019, and after an unimpactful move to Everton, Alli has since been banished by loan club Besiktas after underwhelming in the Turkish Super Lig. 

Ross Barkley too received a number of England caps earlier in his career, but has been unable to add to his 33-cap tally after being left out in the cold ahead of England’s Euro 2020 campaign.

After agreeing to leave Chelsea by mutual consent in the summer transfer window, Barkley has attempted to reinvigorate his career at Ligue 1 outfit Nice. 

But after an initially strong showing, the midfielder’s form has faltered, and the former Everton player was left out of Nice’s Europa Conference League’s squad as they prepare for the knockout stages.