Foreign legion continue to make mark in English Premier League

Whatever one’s views on the English Premier League, one thing that cannot be denied is its cosmopolitan nature. When Patson Daka scored Leicester City’s fourth goal against Manchester United last Saturday, he became the first Zambian to score in the Premier League, meaning players from 105 different nations have netted in the EPL.

On the same day, Albania became the 104th when Armando Broja, on loan from Chelsea, scored the winner for Southampton against Leeds United.

These are remarkable figures when you consider that when the Premier League was launched in 1992, there were just 13 non-British or Irish players in action.

Some famous foreign names performed in that first EPL weekend 29 years ago.

Two became legends, Denmark’s Peter Schmeichel at Manchester United and Eric Cantona at Leeds shortly before moving to Man U.

Also at Old Trafford was Ukrainian winger Andrei Kanchelskis who played for Russia.

Arsenal also fielded two foreign players, Anders Limpar (Sweden) and John Jensen (Denmark).

Other names that might ring a bell are Israeli forward Ronnie Rosenthal at Liverpool, Wimbledon’s Dutch goalie Hans Segers and Dutch defender Michel Vonk at Manchester City.

There were two other foreign goalkeepers, Canada’s Craig Forrest at Ipswich and Jan Stejskal, QPR’s Czech custodian.

Rounding off the pioneering 13 were Everton winger Robert Warzycha (Poland), Oldham’s Gunnar Halle (Norway) and Sheffield Wednesday’s Roland Nilsson (Sweden).

The foreign talent was quickly recognised.

On Boxing Day 1999, Chelsea’s starting XI was an all-foreign line-up, although they had some British players on the bench.

On Feb 14, 2005, Arsenal went the whole hog against Crystal Palace when they became the first English club to name an entire match-day squad of foreign players, including the substitutes.

Arsene Wenger’s squad included six Frenchmen, three Spaniards and two Dutch. Other players came from Germany, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Brazil.

Of course, there were foreign players in England long before the Premier League was introduced.

The very first is believed to be Max Seeburg, a German who kept goal for Tottenham on just one occasion in Sept 1908.

Seeburg went on to play for Burnley and Grimsby.

There are plenty of amazing stories concerning foreign footballers in England.

The most famous was that of goalie Bert Trautmann, a German paratrooper who was released from a British PoW camp in 1949.

He went on to play 508 league games for Manchester City before winning a medal in a heroic FA Cup performance in 1956. That same year he was voted “Footballer of the Year”.

We must not forget George Robledo, a Chilean striker with an English mother.

He worked in a Yorkshire coal mine but in 1946 joined Barnsley and was a prolific scorer before signing for Newcastle in 1949 where he was a huge success for four seasons before returning to Chile.

Robledo, nicknamed “Pancho”, achieved a lot of “firsts’’ at Newcastle.

In 1951, he became the first overseas footballer to play in an FA Cup final and the following year the first foreigner to score in the final.

In the 1951-52 season, his 33 league goals made him the first foreign top scorer in the English league.

That season local hero Jackie Milburn scored 28 for Newcastle, making that attack the most feared in the land.

In 1978, Tottenham manager Keith Burkinshaw pulled off what was called the “transfer coup of the century” by signing Argentine stars Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa.

The duo were hugely popular amongst the Spurs fans, particularly Ardiles for his defence-splitting passes.

Villa will always be remembered for his spectacular winning goal in the 1981 FA Cup final replay against Manchester City.

The Falklands War in 1982 put the Argentine duo in a very difficult position but Spurs fans have always treated them as heroes.

Just about every club has its own foreign hero.

From 1984-96, Danish midfielder Jan Molby was hugely popular at Liverpool whose fans appreciated his passing skills.

He was naturally known as the “Great Dane” or “Big Jan”. He even acquired a Liverpool accent and in 2009 was named “Honorary Scouser” by the Liverpool mayor.

After becoming Arsenal manager in 1996, Wenger assembled some brilliant foreign players.

In addition to Dutch stars Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp, his French acquisitions included Patrick Vieira, Emmanuelle Petit, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry — now that’s not shabby at all.

When we witness the gifted Egyptian Mohamed Salah work his magic, let’s remember those foreign pioneers who paved the way for what we take for granted in the Premier League today.