Bale, Beckham, Lineker: Who is the greatest British footballer to play abroad?

Gareth Bale has officially confirmed he will be leaving Real Madrid this summer.

On Wednesday morning, the Welshman took to social media to inform the public of his exit after nine trophy-filled years at the club.

Accompanied by a much longer statement, Bale wrote to Madridistas: “It has been an honour. Thank you!”

It has been an honour. Thank you! #HALAMADRID @RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/T7FL2LNRrD

So, now that Bale’s time in Spain has come to an end, the question that has to be asked is; who is the greatest British footballer to play abroad?

Well, we’ve decided to provide our answers by ranking who we feel are the 12 British players who’ve thrived the most on foreign shores.

Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham are two players who could join the list in years to come…

His first season at Manchester United was one to forget, but let’s not forget just how good Sancho was as a youngster at Borussia Dortmund. In 137 games, he scored 50 goals, assisted 64 more and won the 2021/21 DFB-Pokal – netting two of Dortmund’s goals in the 4-1 final win against RB Leipzig. Yeah, he was pretty darn special out in Germany.

Cunningham was something of a trailblazer, as in 1979 he became the first British footballer to represent Real Madrid. He scored a brace on his Los Blancos debut and then helped the team win a La Liga and Copa del Rey double in his first season. Cunningham was also very good during his one and only season with Marseille in 1994/95.

There aren’t many British people who can say they’ve scored a hat-trick in El Clasico, but Lineker can. After joining Barcelona from Everton following his exploits at the 1986 World Cup, the Match of the Day host hit the ground running, netting 21 goals in his first season. Lineker won a Copa