Finding English football's talent hotbeds

Whilst there's been plenty of talk about fixing English football since Wayne Rooney's retirement prompted the end of the country’s painfully unsuccessful ‘Golden Generation’ we may be far further along the line than we realise.

With a World Cup semi-final appearance in 2018 and a plethora of trophies through U21s to U17’s in the past five years, the argument could be made English football is in fact already fixed.

We’ve taken it upon ourselves to look at where all this new talent is coming from, wading through all 167 players born in England to play Premier League minutes this season, with some interesting results.

The fact this all-star list doesn’t even include two of the game's best players, Raheem Sterling (born outside England) and Jadon Sancho (playing outside England) shows just how good things are, and that while tournament football requires a giant dose of luck, regular knockout appearances might at least ease the years of hurt.
 

Greater London x41

East London x13
Reece James, Jonjo Shelvey, David Martin, Adam Smith, Mark Noble, Andros Townsend, Jordon Ibe, Jeremy Ngakia, Junior Stanislas, Ezri Konsa, Joe Gomez, Ainsley Maitland Niles, Kortney Hause

South Londonx11
Aaron Wan Bissaka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Michail Antonio, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Brandon Pierrick, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Tammy Abraham, Ryan Sessegnon, Ryan Bertrand, Jack Cork

North London x9
Harry Kane, Dwight Gayle, Joe Willock, Angel Gomes, Henri Lansbury, Kyle Walker Peters, Japhet Tanganga, Steven Alzate, Theo Walcott

West London x8
Declan Rice, Luke Shaw, Bukayo Saka, Patrick Roberts, Max Aarons, Ryan Fredericks, Tariq Lamptey, Max Kilman

Walthamstow and Kingston lead all London boroughs with three players each, Kingston could be top of the pile with four, but Raheem Sterling was in fact born in Kingston, Jamaica.

Greater Manchester x15
James Tarkowski, Brandon Williams, Marcus Rashford, Martin Kelly, Danny Welbeck, Danny Drinkwater, Dwight McNeil, Craig Dawson, Michael Keane, Ben Mee, Phil Foden, Phil Jagielka, Nathan Holland, Rob Holding, Dale Stephens

Merseyside x12
Conor Coady, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack O’Connell, John Lundstram, Aaron Cresswell, Tom Davies, Leighton Baines, Ross Barkley, Scott Dann, Curtis Jones, Anthony Gordon, James Garner

While Greater Manchester may have the edge on North Western rivals Merseyside, the city of Manchester’s 5 is actually less than Liverpool’s 10.

South Yorkshire x9
Harry Maguire, Jamie Vardy, Dominic Calvert Lewin, Kyle Walker, Billy Sharp, Mason Holgate, Danny Rose, Matty Longstaff, John Stones

South Yorkshire has massively outperformed its size, as the fourth joint highest producing county, despite being 10th in population size.

Hampshire x9
Mason Mount, Joel Ward, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers, Simon Moore, Tom Cleverly, Matt Targett, Danny Ings, James Ward-Prowse

Portsmouth has been one of the country’s top hot beds but their team has never profited, with Ward-Prowse, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mason Mount all born in the city but never making an appearance for Pompey.

West Midlands x6
Jack Grealish, Nathan Redmond, Troy Deeney, Demarai Grey, Andre Gray, Leon Clarke

Hertfordshire x6
Ashley Young, Jack Wilshere, Keinan Davis, Adam Lallana, Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks

Essex x5
Charlie Daniels, Ryan Bennett, James Tomkins, Sam Byram, Isaac Hayden

Tyne & Wear x5
Andy Carroll, Sean Longstaff, Jordan Henderson, Chris Basham, Jordan Pickford

Derbyshire x4
Jamaal Lascelles, Ben Osborn, Gary Cahill, Matt Lowton

Lancashire x4
Jay Rodriguez, Matty James, Harvey Barnes, Phil Jones

Cheshire x4
Josh Brownhill, Jesse Lingard, Tom Heaton, Ashley Westwood

West Yorkshire x4
Fabian Delph, Mason Greenwood, James Milner, Aaron Lennon

North Yorkshire x3
Ben Godfrey, Charlie Taylor, Lewis Cook

Norfolk x3
Angus Gunn, Jed Steer, Todd Cantwell

Surrey x3
Harvey Elliott, Will Hughes, Alex McCarthy

Berkshire x3
Sam Surridge, Dominic Solanke, Jack Stacey

Buckinghamshire x3
Ben Chilwell, Dele Alli, George Baldock

East Sussex x3
Solly March, Steve Cook, Lewis Dunk

Warwickshire x3
James Maddison, Callum Wilson, Ben Foster

Staffordshire x3
Morgan Gibbs White, Marc Albrighton, Aaron Ramsdale

Somerset x2
Tyrone Mings, Ashley Barnes

Herefordshire x2
Connor Wickham, Jarrod Bowen

Herefordshire has one of the smallest population sizes in the country, meaning two top flight players is a decent return, even though Wickham has now moved to the Championship. 

Devon x2
Dan Gosling, Jack Stephens

Dorset x2
Tino Anjorin, Jack Simpson

Leicestershire x2
Hamza Choudhury, Che Adams

Cumbria x2
Glenn Murray, Dean Henderson

Nottinghamshire x1
Simon Francis

Northumberland x1
Dan Burn

Kent x1
Luke Freeman

Kent seriously need to up their game with the sixth highest population size of any English county, but just one player produced.

Bedfordshire x1
James Justin

Gloucestershire x1
Eric Dier

West Sussex x1
Adam Webster

Cambridgeshire x1
Nick Pope
 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Most common birthplaces of English Prem players to make an appearance this season:
⠀
👶 GREATER LONDON (4⃣1⃣)
👶 Greater Manchester (1⃣5⃣)
👶 Merseyside (1⃣2⃣)
👶 Hampshire, South Yorkshire (9⃣)
👶 Hertfordshire, West Midlands (6⃣)
👶 Essex, Tyne & Wear (5⃣)#ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/Os431uM6tD

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) May 14, 2020