Where are they now? The last 10 England players given their debut by Roy Hodgson
Roy Hodgson’s time in charge of England wasn’t exactly filled with joy and triumph, but it was one of the most GIF-able and meme-able tenures of all time.
He gets a lot of flack for his work as England manager, does Roy, but the current crop of Lions, who are about to embark upon a quest for European glory, have just been beaten by Iceland in a pre-tournament friendly—the same nation that brought about the resignation of our favourite touchline owl-man.
Hodgson gave debuts to plenty of great players, some of whom are still part of the fold now. Only one of the last ten players Hodgson gave debuts to have actually made it to Euro 2024, however, and it’s the der Kapitan himself.
Harry Kane
Kane scored 80 seconds into his England debut—a Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania—after coming off the bench to replace Wayne Rooney in the second half. That was way back in 2015. Nine years later, and Kane will be captaining his country in Germany, this summer.
As you know, Harry moved to Bayern Munich to win trophies last summer, and won absolutely nothing despite scoring 36 Bundesliga goals in 32 games.
Will somebody please set the bloke up with a shaman or a spirit healer?
Ryan Mason
Mason made his England debut just a few days after Kane, in a 1-1 draw with Italy in Turin. He replaced Jordan Henderson for the last 16 minutes of the game. Less than two years later, Mason was forced to retire from professional football.
The Hull City midfielder clashed heads with Gary Cahill and ended up having surgery to put 14 metal platers in his skull, held together by twice as many screws.
Mason was briefly made interim head coach of Tottenham after the dismissal of Jose Mourinho, and is now one of Ange Postecoglou’s assistants at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy will not go away. He is inevitable. The man is 37-and-a-half years old, has just won promotion back to the Premier League with Leicester City (by scoring the most unnecessarily Jamie Vardy goal of all time), and is getting ready to go again.
Vardy made his debut in a friendly against Ireland on 7th June. He retired from international football three years later in order to prolong his club career — going well so far.
Genuinely think the prospect of Neal Maupay vs Jamie Vardy is the most exciting thing about the 2024-25 Premier League season.
READ NEXT: The 20 players in England’s Euro 2024 squad who could’ve represented other nations
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every England player to score at a major tournament since 1990?
Dele Alli
Dele had the world at his feet in 2015 when he made his international debut against Estonia. The midfielder’s struggles with mental health have been well-documented, and Dele himself has been incredibly open on the subject.
Most recently, Dele was with Everton, but 2023-24 ended without him making an appearance for the Toffees, following a groin injury he sustained in December ’23.
Danny Ings
The striker made his debut against Lithuania in a Euro 2016 qualifying match, replacing Harry Kane in the second half.
Ings only went on to make a further two appearances for the Three Lions, but he did score an audacious bicycle kick against Wales, at Wembley, in his final England appearance.
Ings is still playing, with West Ham these days, so he might go on to win more caps yet. It doesn’t seem likely, however, with young superstars filling up spots in England’s frontline at an alarming rate.
Eric Dier
Rarely has a footballer—or human being, for that matter—been more committed to the grade-4-all-over haircut.
Dier showed a similar level of commitment to England when he chose to represent the Three Lions over Portugal—where he spent the majority of his childhood—at international level.
Since making his debut against Spain at the back end of 2015, alongside Dele, Dier had been an England regular. However, the former Spurs man hasn’t played for his country since 2022 and has not been selected for the Euro 2024 squad.
Dier is now at Bayern Munich with his mate Harry, and, to be honest, considering his form since joining the Bavarians, can count himself a little unlucky not to be representing England in his new home this summer.
Danny Rose
Rose turned down a call up from Jamaica in order to represent the country of his birth, England. The Doncaster-born man made his debut in a 3-2 friendly win over Germany in 2016, and went on to earn 29 caps.
The left-back hasn’t played any professional football since appearing for Watford in 2022, so it’s probably safe to consider him unofficially retired.
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every member of England’s squad for Euro 2000?
Danny Drinkwater
We think it’s probably fair to say that no other footballer has benefitted more from the presence of N’Golo Kante than Danny Drinkwater has.
Well following the pair’s Premier League title-winning season with Leicester City, Drinkwater earned himself a call-up to the England squad.
He made his debut in a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in which he was inexplicably Man of the Match despite being on the losing team. He did earn two further caps for England in 2016 but was ultimately chopped from the Euro 2016 squad when the longlist became a shortlist.
Drinkwater has been retired since 2022, following several loan spells away from Chelsea.
Marcus Rashford
It’s easy to forget that Marcus Rashford is still only 26 years old. It feels like he’s been playing at the top level forever, but Manchester United’s number 10 is still just a young man finding his way in the world, and something has felt just a little off this season.
Rashford was 18 years old when he made his England debut in 2016, scoring on his debut against Australia at The Stadium of Light.
He’s been a key man for his country since then, but his recent dip in form has seen him lose his place in the England squad. Here’s hoping he’s back to his best by 2026.
Tom Heaton
The veteran goalkeeper made his England debut in the same match as Rashford did, up in Sunderland. He went on to make two further appearances for his country, equalling his total number of appearances for Manchester United since joining the Red Devils in 2021.
He’s still there in 2024, incredibly, despite having 38 years on this Earth to his name. The life of the homegrown third-choice goalkeeper is truly something we should all aspire to, honestly.