The 137 English league stars to watch at the World Cup

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With the World Cup just over two weeks away, let’s look at the England based stars. Chelsea, Tottenham and Swansea City all feature.

137 players signed to English clubs have been so far selected to feature at this summer’s World Cup, although final selections will be confirmed on June 2^nd.

These players represent thirty of the thirty-two countries heading to Brazil with just Colombian (Pablo Armero is a Napoli player, not a West Ham player) and Italian players not selected.

Leading the way, as you would expect, are the England squad, with twenty-eight English based players selected and only two based abroad. Jermaine Defoe plays at MLS based Toronto FC, while Fraser Forster ply’s his trade at Scottish club Celtic.

Next are the Belgium squad with thirteen players based in the English leagues, including Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, Manchester United wonder kid Adnan Januzaj, and four players from both Chelsea and Tottenham.

Third most England-based picks are France with ten. Arsenal naturally top the pack with three stars, while other notable players include Morgan Schneiderlin of Southampton and QPR’s Loic Remy both making it into Laurent Blanc’s squad.

Spain, Brazil and Netherlands all have seven. Of that twenty-one superstars, Chelsea own six, Manchester City four, and Manchester United three, with newly relegated Norwich’s Leroy Fer, Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar and Swansea pair Michael Vorm and Jonathan de Guzman all making the Dutch squad.

The two highest featured African nations are Nigeria and Ivory Coast with five England-based stars each. Middlesbrough’s Kenneth Omeruo made the cut for Nigeria, along with Chelsea pair John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses. The Toure brothers, Kolo and Yaya, will represent Ivory Coast accompanied by Newcastle’s Cheik Tiote and Swansea City’s Wilfried Bony.

Of the countries with just one England based representative, Manchester United can boast three players: Ecuador (Valencia – Manchester United), Mexico (Hernandez – Manchester United), Portugal (Nani – Manchester United), while Russia (Pogrebnyak – Russia) and Switzerland (Kasami – Fulham) complete the bunch.

England truly is a multicultural mixing pot with leagues that evidently attract the world’s best players.

*data amended from mirror.co.uk