Five professional footballers who are from Buckinghamshire

Some of these players have played in the Premier League, Champions League and even on the international stage, where they have been watched by millions of people across the globe.

So here are five professional footballers (currently playing or retired), who are from Buckinghamshire.

Number 5: Jeffrey Schlupp: 293 career games, 32 goals

Now this may surprise you but the Ghanaian-German wing-back has links to Buckinghamshire.

Originally born in Hamburg, Germany, Schlupp, along with his family, moved to England in the 1990s not long after he was born.

Jeffrey Schlupp tries to tackle Bournemouth's Lewis Cook in a 2-2 draw in December 2017 (PA)

He attended Milton Keynes’ Oakgrove School as a youth alongside Max Crocombe – a goalkeeper who also became a professional and has since played for Oxford United, Milton Keynes Dons and Salford City to name just a few.

Despite having strong connections in Milton Keynes, Schlupp was signed by Leicester City in 2005, and stayed at the club for 12 years.

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He won the Championship title, as well as promotion with the Foxes in 2014, before being part of the most unlikeliest Premier League triumph ever, as Leicester became the Champions of England for the first time in 2016.

Half-a-season more with Leicester followed before he joined Crystal Palace in January 2017, where he has since played 115 games and has scored 10 goals for the club.

Jeffrey Schlupp (centre) celebrate's Andros Townsend's goal against Spurs in a FA Cup match in 2019 (PA)

Schlupp also spent some time on loan at Brentford from Leicester in the 2010/11 season to gain first-team experience.

His time there was successful and he scored six goals in just 10 matches.

Schlupp has also played for Ghana at international level.

Number 4: George and Sam Baldock: 736 career games, 126 goals (collectively)

The two brothers who have played at the top level, were both born in Buckingham and both started their professional careers at Milton Keynes Dons.

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Sam, who is the older brother, has had a relatively tidy career as after he left Dons in the summer of 2011 to join West Ham, he helped the Hammers earn promotion to the Premier League.

He left after a year to join Bristol City and again, helped his side earn promotion, this time into the Championship in his second season at the club.

George Baldock (right) has been at Sheffield United for four seasons (PA)

A decent record of 36 goals in 92 matches at Ashton Gate eventually saw him move to Brighton in 2014 where again, promotion followed as the Seagulls were promoted to the Premier League in 2017.

He has since joined Reading and could earn the fifth promotion of his career if the Royals were to go up this season.

Baldock was also promoted with MK Dons in 2008.

His brother, George, has had a relatively scattered career but he is currently playing at the top-level, representing Sheffield United.

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George played 125 times for Dons in eight years but also had several loan spells away from the club, as he played for Northampton Town, had two separate spells at Tamworth, Oxford United and at IBV in Iceland.

However, he has been with the Blades since the summer of 2017 and was a key player in United's promotion to the Premier League in 2019, as well as their incredible first season back in the top-flight, as they finished ninth in 2020.

George Baldock (pictured) has an older brother, Sam, who plays for Reading (PA)

The younger Baldock played in every PL match that season and scored twice.

Eddie Howe: 304 career appearances, 15 goals

Best known for his time at Bournemouth as a player and as a manager, you would think that Eddie Howe is originally form the South Coast.

However, Howe, who also played for Portsmouth and Swindon Town (he played just two games in total for both clubs), was born in Amersham, but he and his family moved to Verwood in Dorest as a child.

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His playing career saw him make 300 matches for the Cherries – all of those games were played in the Second Division/League One.

Eddie Howe is best known for being at Bournemouth as a player and as a manager (PA)

He eventually moved into management and helped Bournemouth avoid relegation into the Non-League in 2008/09, after the club started the season with a -17 points deduction due to administration.

Promotion followed in 2009/10 but midway through 2010/11, Howe left the club to join Burnley as their new manager.

Burnley just missed out on the Championship play-off places in his first five months at the club and finished mid-table in his only full season with the Lancashire side.

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An indifferent start to 2012/13 saw Howe resign in October of that season to only re-join the Cherries on the same day, where an incredible rise followed.

Seven months after returning, Bournemouth were promoted again, this time into the Championship and just two years later, they did the impossible and were a Premier League outfit.

Eddie Howe celebrates the Cherries' promotion to the Premier League in 2015 (PA)

In five seasons in managing the club at the top level, Howe’s Bournemouth defeated Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

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He left the club for a second time after Bournemouth were relegated to the Championship in 2020.

Ben Chilwell: 191 career games, seven goals

Currently playing under Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, Ben Chilwell is a Bucks boy.

Born in December 1996, the left-back is from Milton Keynes but was educated at the Redborne Upper School and Community College in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

Ben Chillwell (left) and Reece James (right)

Starting his career at Rushden & Diamonds, he joined Leicester as a teenager and in all, played 123 times for the Foxes, scoring four times.

He was also included in several of the club’s matchday squads during the 2015/16 season as the club were crowned Premier League championships, but he didn’t make a league appearance that season.

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Instead, Chilwell spent some time at Huddersfield Town in the Championship and after breaking through into the Foxes’ side in the summer of 2016, he became the club’s number one left-back a year later, dislodging the evergreen Christian Fuchs.

Tammy Abraham (left) and Ben Chilwell (right)

Chilwell then joined Chelsea last summer for £45m, playing 27 matches and has scoring twice for the Blues so far.

He also has 12 caps for England to date.

Number 1: Dele Alli: 383 career appearances, 92 goals

Probably the most famous footballer to come out of the county in recent years, Dele Alli’s rise to stardom is very impressive.

Milton Keynes born and bred, Alli attended both the Stantonbury Campus and The Radcliffe School within the town, and signed for MK Dons in 2007, aged 11.

His breakthrough year in 2013/14 saw the youngster score seven goals in 37 matches before these figures were smashed a year later, as Alli played 44 matches and scored 16 goals in all competitions.

Dele Alli scored at the 2018 World Cup for England against Sweden (PA)

Tottenham came calling and after joining the club in January 2015, he was loaned back out to Dons before starting the next season as a Spurs first-team player.

Positive displays followed and by November 2015, Alli was now an England international and even scored his first goal for the Three Lions, as he bagged a wonderful strike in a 2-0 win over France that month.

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This season (2020/21), has seen Alli reduce to cup and European matches as game time in the league has become sparse, leading to rumours that he could leave Spurs in the summer.

Dele Alli's goals this season have all come in Europe (PA)

But, it’s important to remember that by the time Alli had reached 23, he had gone from playing in League One to becoming one of the best players in the Premier League, and had even scored in two FA Cup semi-finals, a World Cup quarter-final, as well as playing in a Championship League final.

So far this season, Alli has played 19 matches in all competitions and has scored three times – all in the Europa League.