How six Britons could play in one game in Slovakia’s ‘fast track’ top flight

Former Manchester United, Spurs, Everton and Arsenal players are preparing for AS Trencin’s clash with Zemplin Michalovce on Saturday

“I wish I’d done it a bit younger,” says the former Manchester United midfielder Sean Goss of moving abroad. He is one of six Britons who could do battle when AS Trencin host Zemplin Michalovce on Saturday in a battle of eighth v sixth in the Slovakian top flight.

Trencin have Goss, Roshaun Mathurin, a graduate of Tottenham’s academy, and Cody David, who went through the ranks at Everton. Zemplin’s squad includes two players who started at Arsenal, Kido Taylor-Hart and Ben Cottrell, and Kai Brosnan, who had played non-league football until joining them last summer. There are further British links at Trencin because Markus Poom, the son of the former Estonia goalkeeper Mart, was born in Derby.

“I always wanted to play abroad,” says Goss, who spent 18 months in Greece before moving to Trencin, one of Europe’s capitals of culture this year. “When I was at United a lot of coaches and players always used to tell me it would suit me a lot more. When I got older when I was training with the first team, there were players telling me that as well.”

In a post-Brexit world, it is more difficult for British players to find work abroad but opportunities remain. Meeting employment thresholds in the Netherlands and Belgium has become problematic but the requirements in eastern Europe are often lower, making it easier to obtain work permits in countries such as Slovakia.

Taylor-Hart had a brief spell in Greece with PAS Giannina after being released by Arsenal before he headed to Slovakia. He was able to get advice from Cottrell, a former Arsenal teammate. “Not that I wasn’t looking in England but I was mainly asking agents or agents were coming to me with more abroad options,” Taylor-Hart says. “I’m not saying that it’s a step back, but sometimes you’ve got to go to a lower level and get your playing time. It’s not that I fell out of love with the game, but just found that love for the game again.”

The opportunity for development in Slovakia makes it an attractive proposition. The average age of Trencin’s squad is 23 and Goss, at 30, is a guide there. Clubs in Slovakia are operating smarter and bringing in youngsters from all over the world, offering them the chance to test themselves in a first division, including against teams playing in Uefa competitions. Last weekend Trencin beat Slovan Bratislava, who have won the league seven times in a row, away from home. In January they sold the 19-year-old Suleman Sani to RB Leipzig for a fee that could rise to €6m (£5.24m) and Damir Redzic left another Slovakian club, DAC 1904, for RB Salzburg for €5m.

“I’ve never seen a club give opportunities to young players like this club has,” says Goss. “In England, you come in and if you’re not doing the business then you’re out, whereas at Trencin they give them a lot of games and time to settle. You can see them building every week with their performance … With the rumours we heard about who was watching Sani, they have the opportunities and they are in the shop window every week.”

Young British players are becoming more open-minded about what is available abroad. They are brought up in academies that implement a style reflected across Europe but not in the English lower leagues. Phones mean they have easy access to information about the game in other countries and how compatriots have fared.

Brosnan was at part-time Hemel Hempstead Town in National League South last season, while working as a recruitment consultant. After half a year with Zemplin he is being tipped as someone who could earn a move.

Taylor-Hart says: “Playing in a league like this, or surrounding areas, is a fast track. I feel like there’s moves you can get from Slovakia that you can’t get from Leagues One and Two, even though the level might be similar.”

Dropping down the leagues in England is regarded as the natural route to first-team football but players enter a world of grind, regularly playing twice a week. A league campaign in Slovakia consists of 32 games, allowing more rest and a greater chance to be coached, and facing teams who play in Europe is preferable for some to Tuesday nights in the EFL.

Heading to places such as Slovakia is never likely to be motivated by money. Players can make a comfortable living but it is a career decision, thinking more long-term, that takes players to Europe. It is not a coincidence that clubs are targeting Britons for their attributes, attitude and education. Previously British footballers were not regarded as good travellers but that label is being eroded.