The Premier League is by far the biggest domestic league in the world. And over the years, a number of elite International players have left their mark in England. In this list, we take a look at the XI of the best players to feature in England from abroad:
Greatest overseas Premier League XI in history
GK: Petr Cech
Featuring for Chelsea and Arsenal during his Premier League career, Cech has the record of the most clean sheets in the history of the English top flight.
CB: Nemanja Vidic
Vidic is one of the best centre-backs to ever feature for Manchester United, and is the only defender to be named Premier League player of the season more than once.
CB: Vincent Kompany
The former Manchester City skipper has the most number of Premier League titles of any overseas player, as the captain of a club, with four to his name.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk
Featuring for Liverpool and Southampton during his Premier League career, the Dutch centre-back completely transformed Liverpool after arriving. His brilliance has helped Jurgen Klopp re-establish the Merseysiders as a force to be reckoned with.
RM: Mohamed Salah
Salah is the highest African goalscorer in the history of the Premier League, and has won two Golden Boots. By the looks of things this season, he is comfortably on his way to his third Golden Boot as well.
CM: Patrick Vieira
The current Crystal Palace coach is one of the best Premier League defensive midfielders to come from overseas. He is an Arsenal legend, and captained the invincibles.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne was awarded the PFA Player of the Year award on consecutive occasions. The Belgian has been vital to Manchester City’s success, and is arguably the greatest attack minded midfielder to ever play in England.
LM: Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo is the only overseas player to win the Ballon d’Or award in England. He is now at Manchester United again, and has found a tremendous goalscoring form as part of the Red Devils once more.
CAM: Eric Cantona
Cantona is a forward deeply engrained in Manchester United history, and he helped the club win four league titles in five years with the Red Devils.
ST: Thierry Henry
Henry is Arsenal’s greatest-ever and highest scoring forward. Alongside Kevin De Bruyne, he holds the record for the highest assists in a single Premier League season.
ST: Sergio Aguero
Few have made an impact quite as big as Sergio Aguero in the Premier League. The Argentinian remains Manchester City’s highest-scoring player and will go down in history as the star of one of the league’s greatest ever moments.
