EuroTrip: EFL Transfers From Overseas

Ali Maxwell and Andy Watson take a deep dive into the recent history and success of EFL clubs signing players from abroad.

Ali Maxwell with Andy Watson

It’s always intriguing when an EFL club signs a player from outside the watery borders of the UK & Ireland.

This summer, as the DONE DEALS rolled in, I sensed that Championship clubs - some more than others - were sprinkling a little more wanderlust into their summer recruitment. It felt like there was a higher proportion of signings arriving from abroad.

I was aware that there had been some softening in how post-Brexit work permit restrictions were to be applied to football transfers, and I thought perhaps that was the key reason for summer additions such as Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Mads Frøkjær-Jensen, Ryan Mmaee and Mileta Rajović.

Now that the EFL Newsletter by NTT20 exists, those hunches can become deep dives. And, in plunging beneath the surface, we can learn that not all assumptions are correct. So, with the significant help of the extraordinarily clued-up Andy Watson, here’s some analysis of EFL clubs’ foreign transfer business, trying to find answers to questions like:

• Which players were signed who wouldn’t have been able to be signed last summer?

• Where are Championship clubs signing players from?

• How much impact do signings from abroad tend to have?

What comes next may surprise you… Come down the rabbit hole!