How Portugal’s Southampton Stars Can Harm England’s Euro 2016 Preparations

Whatever the final make-up of Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2016 is, one thing is for certain—that all of the 23 players selected will ply their trade in England’s top division.

The English footballer is notoriously a home bird—a species that travels rarely and often not very successfully.

The success of the English Premier League is one of the main reasons for that, of course, with the healthy competitive nature of the division raising the question as to why an English player would want to look elsewhere, but when you compare and contrast it with the vast majority of other nations in France in the summer, you’ll see a big difference.

Take Thursday night’s friendly opponents Portugal for instance, whose current 23-man squad for the Euros is made up of players playing in Spain, France, Croatia, Turkey, Germany, Portugal—inevitably—and England—perhaps even more inevitably.

But whereas Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani used to call the Premier League home, it is now a couple of defensive stars who will be able to offer the squad the lowdown on Thursday’s opposition.

Jose Fonte and Cedric Soares—fresh from a fine end to the English season and a sixth-place Premier League finish with Southampton—will be lining up against familiar faces at Wembley, and both would doubtless tell you that playing in England has been a key factor behind the success of their careers.

Fonte, in particular, owes pretty much everything to the English league system, rising up through it with Southampton to become regarded as one of the best and most dependable defenders in the Premier League right now.

After a career in his homeland that appeared to be drifting through a series of …

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