Three new entries onto this list of most expensive uncapped England players this summer, with Cole Palmer costing Anthony Gordon money.
20) Dwight McNeil (Burnley to Everton, £20m, July 2022)
“When I see some of the other young players who are getting called up and are in and around the squad then he can’t be far away in my opinion but I’m bound to say that, I see him every day,” was the December 2019 view of Burnley manager Sean Dyche, who is now seeing plenty more of Dwight McNeil at Everton.
19) Carney Chukwuemeka (Aston Villa to Chelsea, £20m, August 2022)
Aston Villa received the equivalent of £1.3m for every senior club appearance Carney Chukwuemeka had made before his acrimonious move to Chelsea last summer. The teenager left for more playing opportunities and made his first matchday squad under Thomas Tuchel for the humbling against Leeds. How much he will now play under Mauricio Pochettino remains to be seen.
18) Jarrod Bowen (Hull to West Ham, £18m to £22m, January 2020)
England recognition finally arrived for Jarrod Bowen last year after an 18-goal season with West Ham, in which he scored against Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal and reached a European semi-final. Hull will have surely received a little extra on top of the initial fee which took him to East London, not least from those four bright international caps. The poor sap has yet to win for England, mind, foolishly timing his breakthrough for their atrocious Nations League campaign.
17) Rhian Brewster (Liverpool to Sheffield United, £18m to £23.5m, October 2020)
Rhian Brewster’s first four first-team appearances for the Reds came in the Community Shield, FA Cup and League Cup. The forward made the bench for the 2019 Champions League final and was named in just two Premier League matchday squads but Sheffield United believed in the hype and parted with up to £23.5m. An England call hardly beckons, which ought to please grumpy old nemesis Danny Murphy.
16) James Maddison (Norwich to Leicester, £22.5m to £24m, June 2018)
Now being bloody great for Tottenham after being bloody great for Leicester. And now very much part of the England picture.
15) Joe Willock (Arsenal to Newcastle, £20m to £25m, August 2021)
Back in more innocent times, when the Magpies were a little more parsimonious, Steve Bruce was successfully tempted into making Joe Willock the last permanent Magpies signing of the pre-PIF era.
14) Ben Godfrey (Norwich to Everton, £20m to £25m, October 2020)
There was a time when Ben Godfrey could be lumped in with Benjamin White and nary an eyelid was batted. “These two are flexible, they play in different roles and can play left and right. This is a great opportunity for us to know them a bit better and for them to work with the team,” Southgate said after naming them in the provisional squad for the Euros. We have got to know both a bit better since and would no longer consider them equals.
13) Alex Scott (Bristol City to Bournemouth, £20m to £25m, August 2023)
Wanted by every mid-table Premier League club, the Cherries finally won the race for the then-19-year-old even though he was injured and would miss the start of the season. Uncapped? He doesn’t even have an Under-21 call-up to his name.
12) Tyrone Mings (Bournemouth to Aston Villa, £20m to £26.5m, July 2019)
It was A Big Thing when Aston Villa agreed to chuck £20m Bournemouth’s way in the process of making the loan of Tyrone Mings a more permanent feature in 2019. The centre-half had played a key part in their rise from the Championship and as that year’s official Promoted Team That Makes A Load Of New Signings, it did make sense. An England squad place arrived a few months later and the Villa captaincy followed in 2021.
11) Jude Bellingham (Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund, £22.5m to £30m, July 2020)
Manchester United pulled out all the stops and even wheeled in Sir Alex Ferguson but the lure of a clearer path in the Bundesliga sent Jude Bellingham on his way to Borussia Dortmund. With 113 appearances for the German side since – and an increase in his value by around fivefold – to go with a starring role for England at the Qatar World Cup it is difficult to argue that he made the wrong choice. The now very-much capped Bellingham is now at Real Madrid.
10) Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United to Arsenal, £24m to £30m, August 2021)
Ramsdale was as uncapped by the senior England side when he joined Arsenal as when he moved back to Sheffield United the year before. The only difference this time was the ridicule he faced upon that switch to north London as a twice-relegated keeper signed as back-up for Bernd Leno. It took him a couple of months to prove the doubters wrong and not much longer to muscle and sh*thouse his way into the England picture.
9) Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham to Tottenham, £25m to £30m, August 2019)
The last signing of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign in a deal jointly announced with Giovani Lo Celso’s loan. Ryan Sessegnon could not establish himself under the Argentinean or Jose Mourinho, was on loan at Hoffenheim for Ryan Mason’s stint and found no joy under Nuno Espirito Santo either. There came greater opportunity under Antonio Conte with his predilection for wing-backs, but injury and Ange Postecoglou’s formation means that 22/23 is unlikely to be a great one.
8) Jordan Pickford (Sunderland to Everton, £25m to £30m, June 2017)
“The club’s only going forward, so it’s the best thing I can be doing,” said Jordan Pickford upon his move from Sunderland to Everton, who had just finished 7th in the Premier League and have come 8th, 8th, 12th, 10th, 16th and 17th in the subsequent six seasons. His first England call-up came that August before his Three Lions debut in November. No-one has been able to out-rave him between the sticks for his country in the meantime.
7) Noni Madueke (PSV to Chelsea, £30m, January 2023)
The winger has a fair few Under-21 caps and was in the academy at Tottenham before heading to PSV as a 16-year-old in 2018. Chelsea spent a pretty penny on the now 21-year-old on the back of one goal in five Eredivisie appearances.
6) Tino Livramento (Southampton to Newcastle, £32m, August 2023)
Signed by the Saints from Chelsea for just £5m in 2021, right-back Livramento has earned Southampton a massive profit after just 34 appearances for the club, his spell cruelly curtailed by injury. All that money and he is very unlikely to play too many games too quickly for Newcastle as he competes with actual England player Kieran Trippier.
5) Ollie Watkins (Brentford to Aston Villa, £28m to £33m, September 2020)
One season as a centre-forward was enough to tempt Aston Villa into parting with up to £33m for Ollie Watkins in September 2020. The following month he scored a perfect hat-trick against reigning Premier League champions Liverpool and everything felt right. Within the year he had his first England cap, start and goal, making the provisional list for the Euros. But he has been usurped in the perennial race to clean Harry Kane’s boots.
4) Morgan Gibbs-White (Wolves to Nottingham Forest, £25m to £44.5m, August 2022)
That Sheffield United loan made Wolves an awful lot of money. After a season spent earning the title of the Blades’ Player of the Year, Morgan Gibbs-White was pursued by Nottingham Forest and former England youth manager Steve Cooper. A flat fee of £25m stands to be topped up depending on appearances and starts, Forest’s Premier League survival and then European qualification, on top of sell-on clauses pertaining to whatever profit the Tricky Trees make on any subsequent sale. He remains uncapped but it is surely only a matter of time.
3) Anthony Gordon (Everton to Newcastle, £40m, January 2023)
It’s a move that tests the hitherto relentless sensibleness of Newcastle’s post-riches transfer business. It felt a bit too Chelsea for our liking, given Gordon’s entirely unremarkable record for an admittedly shitbone-awful Everton side, though 2022/23 has begun much better after a pre-season with Newcastle.
2) Cole Palmer (Manchester City to Chelsea, £40m to £42.5m, September 2023)
Yikes. It’s a massive amount of money for somebody with just 41 senior appearances to his name but it reflects a) his standing at Manchester City and b) the massive amount of money Chelsea are spending. He remains an England Under-21 international in a squad pretty much dominated by City players.
1) Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace to Manchester United, £45m to £50m, July 2019)
Crystal Palace supporters probably felt that it was the usual show of big club bias from Gareth Southgate to not cap Aaron Wan-Bissaka and call him up as soon as he joined one of the elite. But despite that place in an August 2019 England squad, the right-back has as many international caps at Old Trafford as he earned at Selhurst Park.
