Man Utd and Liverpool summer signings are among five players who, like Angel Gomes, will be called up to the England national team in 2028

Four years after leaving Manchester United – one of the academy’s most promising young players – Angel Gomes is about to make his debut for the senior England team.

99 percent of people who tell you they are after his progress since leaving Old Trafford at Boavista and Lille are damned liars. He couldn't have been further from the minds of England fans as they watched Gareth Southgate's side fall at the final hurdle in Berlin. “If only Gomes were here,” said absolutely no one.

If any other manager in the world of football had been named as Southgate's successor, the midfielder would not be in the England squad.

This does not mean that Carsley is wrong or that Gomes is unworthy a place in the squad; we're excited to see him, and frankly embarrassed that we haven't kept a closer eye on a player who plays in the wilds of *looks up* France.

But it got us thinking about which young players have moved abroad from the Premier League this summer and can expect a call-up to Ben Futcher's England team in 2028. He is the new head coach of the England Under-21 team and will likely succeed Carsley as senior coach in four years' time.

Tino Anjorin (Chelsea to Empoli, £850,000)
More than half of the 250 or so minutes Tino Anjorin played as a Chelsea player earned him a winner's medal in the Champions League. Frank Lampard handed the then teenager his first and only start for the club in the meaningless group stage against Krasnodar before Thomas Tuchel arrived to lead the club to triumph in Porto.

Lampard was impressed by “the way he receives the ball, how he moves very quickly with the ball, his physical ability to defend the ball and run,” but Tuchel and several coaches since then have not been convinced.

The downward curve of Anjorin’s career followed that of the coach who gave him his chance at Chelsea, but at least Anjorin was the chance for a new beginning in Serie A after less productive loan spells at Lokomotiv Moscow, Huddersfield and Portsmouth, while Lampard hangs around England's training ground hoping to be asked to man the pylons.

Empoli narrowly avoided relegation last season but have taken five points from their first three games this season, including a win against Roma and a draw with Bologna. That sounds like a good place to be if Anjorin can stay alongside coach Roberto D'Aversa, who could be described as a fiery character after being sacked by Lecce in March for headbutting an opposition player.

Omari Forson (Manchester United to Monza, free)
He proved to be a crucial substitute on his Premier League debut against Wolves in February, using some beautiful footwork to provide an assist that was completely forgotten as his academy colleague Kobbie Mainoo danced through a few challenges and then fired the ball into the far corner. The selfish little whatever.

He made his only start in the 2-1 defeat to Fulham later that month. Erik ten Hag had stressed before the game that Forson deserved his place ahead of Amad Diallo and Antony based on his performances from the bench and his work ethic in training.

Forson was offered a new contract by United but turned it down to play under Alessandro Nesta, who believes the 20-year-old has “huge potential”.

Bobby Clark (Liverpool to RB Salzburg, £10 million)
“But the steps the boy took, pfff [wow]!” said Klopp, his trademark broad grin on his face, after Clark scored and provided an assist in Liverpool’s 6-1 win over Sparta Prague in the Europa League in March.

He was used by Klopp in two more matches from the start, against Nottingham Forest and Southampton, after coming off the bench to join the rest of “Klopp's children” in the nursery-cum-football team that embarrassed Chelsea's billion-pound bottle jobs in the Carabao Cup final.

It is a little odd that Liverpool are willing to part with the midfielder after that breakthrough season, when they believe he is in good hands with Klopp's former assistant Pep Lijnders at Salzburg, a club known for nurturing young talent. £10m for a player bought from Newcastle for £1.5m three years earlier is excellent business in comparison.

A 17.5% sell-on clause and a buy-back option made Liverpool's decision a no-brainer, while Clark will undoubtedly feature more often and England could well end up reaping the rewards.

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Shola Shoretire (Manchester United to PAOK Saloniki, free)
None of his five senior appearances came under Erik ten Hag. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used him three times after making his debut for Shoretire in February 2021, making him the At 17 years and 23 days, he was the youngest United player ever to appear in a European Cup matchbefore Ralf Rangnick gave him two more chances by promoting him to first-team training alongside Alejandro Garnacho.

“He will be an athlete and technically he is very, very good,” said Solskjaer after his debut against Real Sociedad, expressing the opinion of Carrington's entourage that Shoretire is one of the players of the future.

Like Forson, Shoretire was reportedly offered a new contract to stay at United, but he has chosen new destinations. Nobody would have predicted PAOK Salonika would be his destination, and the path from there to a call-up to the England national team seems almost impassable, but he is a talented lad and may not stay in Greece for long.

Samuel Iling-Junior (Aston Villa to Bologna, loan)
We are definitely cheating a bit here, because this is only a seasonal loan after Iling-Junior actually moved To He's moving from Juventus to Aston Villa in the summer, but you can back and shoot us if we ever make a four-person list, so here he is.

Douglas Luiz was part of the deal involving Enzo Barrenechea (who was also loaned out directly to Valencia) that led to Juventus. However, we are far from convinced that Unai Emery – or anyone else at Villa – really wanted the 20-year-old, who joined the Old Lady from Chelsea’s academy in 2020, or whether he was just a pawn to save Villa from having to keep a sulking Brazilian midfielder for a season who They had to get rid of it anyway to avoid PSR sanctions.

Iling-Junior is clearly talented, having made 45 appearances for Juventus in recent seasons, and will likely get more playing time at Bologna (as he has mostly been on the bench in Serie A so far).