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Grealish, Henderson, Kane and other England stars who had forgotten loan spells

Jordan Pickford, Jack Grealish, Jordan Henderson and Harry Kane during early loan spells

With 18-year-old Jude Bellingham tipped to star for England at the 2022 World Cup, we explore what his England colleagues were doing at a similar age.

It's fair to say that Jack Grealish was very impressed with Jude Bellingham when they played together for the first time for England.

"He has so much technical ability and he is mature for his age," Grealish said. "I can tell you one thing, I was nowhere near as good at 18. I was at Notts County and I was a scrawny little thing as well."
Bellingham is certainly an incredibly rare talent, so we thought we'd look into the early careers of some other England stars to see who else were middling about on loan somewhere when they were World Cup-bound Jude Bellingham's age.

Harry Kane - Millwall

If Harry Kane decides he wants to try to leave Tottenham again this summer, you can expect every top club on the planet to be desperate to get him.
When he was 18, though, he had to make do with Championship club Millwall. Kane joined midway through the season on loan alongside another future Tottenham and England player, Ryan Mason.
"Both are attacking players," Lions boss Kenny Jackett told the club website at the time.
"Harry is a goalscorer and Ryan is a very creative player with experience of playing in the Championship."
"I do think that our goalscoring options, which do need to improve, will be helped by the acquisition of these two players."

That was something of a leap of faith at the time. Kane's only previous experience was an 18-match loan spell at Leyton Orient in League One the previous season, which yielded just five goals.

Kane did okay for Millwall in the end, scoring seven goals in 22 games before considerably less impressive loan spells at Norwich and Leicester City.

Jordan Pickford - Darlington

Jordan Pickford is such a big bellowing presence for England and Everton now that it's quite hard to imagine him as a teenage bag of nerves in the fifth tier of English football.
That is exactly what he was at 18 years old, though. Pickford came through the ranks at his beloved Sunderland, who saw his potential very early.
In 2012 he signed on loan for Darlington in the Conference Premier, making his debut in a 1-0 defeat to Fleetwood Town.
He stayed for three months and played 17 games, and boss Craig Liddle was suitably impressed.

"He's played a lot of games for a young kid and he's got a big future ahead of him if he continues to listen and learn, which he will because he's got a good character as well," Liddle said.

"He was bossing the penalty area and that's what we wanted him to do. He's become more and more confident. There's been one or two errors, but you'd expect that because he's only young.
"I've known him for a lot of years, since he was in the under-12s at Sunderland I think, and he's got a bright future."

For the record, someone at Darlington during that time clearly had an eye for a young goalkeeper - they also took a teenage Kasper Schmeichel on loan.

Jordan Henderson - Coventry

It's one of football's little known stories that Jordan Henderson, the player who captained Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League glory, was given his big break by Manchester United legend Roy Keane.

When Keane was the manager of Sunderland, he attended a reserves fixture in which an 18-year-old Henderson played. The performance was poor, the match was lost.

Keane visited the dressing room after the game and gave his young players a dressing down, asking them if any of them actually thought they were good enough for the first team. Jordan Henderson alone raised his hand and Keane, who admired his courage, moved him up to the first team squad.
Soon afterwards, Henderson was sent out on loan to Coventry City. Things were different then, as he was a flying winger rather than the all-action central midfielder he is now, but he made a big impression.

Coventry boss Chris Coleman was "99% certain" they would be able to bring Henderson back the following season, but new Sunderland manager Steve Bruce was having none of it.

Jack Grealish - Notts County

As Grealish so eloquently said, when he was 18 years old he was playing League One football on loan at Notts County.
He was a little unkind to himself in his own comments, though, as Grealish was always expected to be huge things. The Aston Villa academy director at that time had likened him to former Nottingham Forest star John Robertson and predicted he would be the greatest player the club ever produced. With his contract running down, Chelsea were circling.
Grealish became an important player at Notts County too, scoring five goals in 37 appearances. One of them was particularly memorable, as he beat three Gillingham players before slotting home.
Gillingham boss Peter Taylor wasn't impressed, though, saying: "Grealish is a very good player, but we made him look like George Best."
That was the only loan spell of Grealish's career, with Aston Villa seeing enough to decide he was ready for their first team squad.

Mason Mount - Vitesse

It's just a reality of life that if you come through Chelsea's academy, you're going to spend a fair bit of time out on loan at other clubs.

For Mount, like so many others at Chelsea, that club was Vitesse Arnhem in the Eredivisie. In fact, his team-mates in the Chelsea youth team Charlie Colkett and Fankaty Dabo were also there on temporary deals at the time.
It took Mount a little time to establish himself, but he got his first start a month after joining and didn't look back.

By the end of the season, the 18-year-old Mount had scored his first career hat-trick and was named in the Eredivisie Team of the Year after playing 39 games in all competitions and scoring 14 goals.

It wasn't until a loan spell at Derby the following year when people really took notice of him, though.

Reece James - Wigan Athletic

As an 18-year-old, Reece James was part of one of the most amusing transfer oddities in memory.

Wigan had just lost their left-back, also called Reece James, to Sunderland on a free transfer. Their solution was comprehensive. They didn't just go out and get a new and better full back, they went out and got a new and better Reece James.

When James (the Chelsea one) arrived at Wigan he was initially used at the back, but they swiftly realised he was better used elsewhere.

James then stepped into midfield and was still the best player on the pitch most weeks, and he earned a place in the Championship Team of the Year in 2018/19.
If anyone is interested, the other Reece James struggled to establish himself for Sunderland and left for Doncaster after a season.

Aaron Ramsdale

There's definitely a case to be made that Aaron Ramsdale has been Arsenal's signing of the season, and possibly their best for a long time.

Ramsdale has pulled off some stunning saves for the Gunners this season and has thrown his name into the hat to be the club's Player of the Year.

Back in 2018, Ramsdale had just moved to Bournemouth from Sheffield United for a fee close to £1million. He started all five games for the England U19s side which won the 2017 UEFA European Under-19s Championship and had been capped three times at U20s level.

League One Chesterfield, then, were understandably thrilled when they were able to get him on loan.
"He's someone we've been after and it's a fantastic signing for us," Spirites boss Jack Lester said.
"He went for big money and Bournemouth have been fantastic with us so I'd like to thank them for their help.
"Aaron knows the area and a few of the lads and Simon Tracey rates him very highly so we're delighted to have got him."
He had another loan spell the following year, this time at AFC Wimbledon, before making his breakthrough at Bournemouth.

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