The Premier League is the most attractive in the world. Still, most of the time, when some players get to opportunity to move to England, the language barrier sometimes affects their chances of settling in quickly and bonding with the team.
However, surprisingly some other players do not have that issue as the leader learns the language quickly or have been a fluent speaker of the English language even before they move to England.
That is why after games, it is not too surprising to hear some of them speak in English.
There are some soccer players who can speak beyond their native language and can combine two to three or more languages together with English inclusive.
In this list, we took a look at the top 12 non-English soccer players who can speak English with no problem.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal
The legendary CR7 was not an English speaker when he started out his career in Portugal, but when he moved to Manchester United in 2003, he needed to learn the language in order to be able to bond with his Red Devils teammates.
However, after spending six years at Manchester United before leaving in 2009 for Real Madrid in that record-breaking deal, Cristiano Ronaldo had become a fluent speaker.
Currently, he can speak up to four languages, including Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and of course, English language.
2. Mohammed Salah – Egypt
Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah understood a bit of English when he joined Chelsea in 2014 because he had been taking English classes in Egypt, as he revealed.
His English language was not the most impressive, but he was able to brush up his English skills and catch up quickly, and after a return and lengthy spell with Liverpool, Salah is now a confident English speaker.
3. Emiliano Martínez — Argentinian
It is uncommon to find Argentine soccer players who can speak English or even coaches. However, Emiliano Martínez excels in speaking the language.
Emi Martinez is an Argentine goalkeeper who plays for Aston Villa in the English Premier League and who also won the Golden Glove at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The charismatic goalie joined Arsenal from Argentine club Independiente in July 2010 when he was only 18.
He moved to England and was able to learn how to speak English.
Martinez said that his English teacher was the same one that taught Unai Emery.
He also said that he is able to speak Portuguese fluently and understand Italian as well.
4. Son Heung-Min – South Korean
Apart from the high salary, one of the perks of playing football is the ability to learn multiple languages, as Son Heung-Min has discovered.
The South Korean International was not an English speaker from the start, as his first point of contact with Europe was Germany.
Now after several years in Europe, which has come with a lot of practice, the Spurs player can speak German and English languages.
The South Korean is also one of the best two-footed soccer players in the world.
5. Kylian Mbappé – France
Here is an interesting one, Kylian Mbappe is one player who has not played in or settled in England in his career but speaks English fluently.
The PSG star has a Cameroonian root through his father but chose to play for France. This hasn’t hindered the two-time World Cup finalist from being able to speak English.
In fact, he had been learning the language from school before becoming a football player and also took Spanish classes too.
Reports do say he’s a very good language student. According to some, Mbappé can also speak Portuguese and Italian with varying degrees of fluency.
6. Bruno Fernandes – Portugal
Bruno Fernandes left Portugal for Novara in Italy at the age of 17 and quickly learned Italian within a month all by himself.
The midfielder is said to be dedicated to learning and is very good with self-learning.
No wonder he could already speak a bit of English before he joined Manchester United, a situation that has helped improve his English literary becoming a popular figure in the Old Trafford dressing rooms.
7. Bernardo Silva – Portugal
Another Portuguese soccer player who can speak English so well is Manchester City player, Bernardo Silva.
The diminutive midfielder player for Benfica and Monaco in Portugal and France respectively before joining Manchester City in 2017.
The English media has described Silva’s English as “perfect,” which can be attributed to his parenting enrolling him at an English-speaking school in Lisbon at the age of six.
Additionally, Silva is fluent in French and Spanish, in addition to his native Portuguese.
8. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – Gabon
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is having his second stint in England with Chelsea. His first point of coming to England was Arsenal in 2018.
However, that cannot be credited to his ability to speak English fluently. Before his move to Arsenal, he had already been learning English in bits since he started getting linked to the Premier League with the two Manchester clubs involved in 2016.
The striker can speak at least five languages, including French, Italian, German, Spanish, and English.
9. Virgil Van Dijk – Netherlands
Have you heard Virgil van Dijk speak English? It will be hard to assume that he was never a native English speaker with his proficiency in the language.
The Dutch defender has a connection to Suriname, which doesn’t really explain his ability to speak English. He moved to Celtic in 2013 and spent two years there before joining Southampton.
10. Gini Wijnaldum – Netherlands
Gini Wijnaldum, just like Virgil Van Dijk, has a Surinamese origin as both his parents are from Suriname, where English is a second language.
Although Gini can also speak English fluently, he’s not a strong speaker of the language like Virgil.
11. Ivan Perišić – Croatia
Croatian forward Ivan Perišić plays for Tottenham currently, but he’s one of the players who can speak multiple European languages fluently, English inclusive, of course.
The Croat isn’t a believer in staying at a single club for more than four years and always wants to learn. It’s a reason why he can speak four languages.
12. David Luiz – Brazil
Brazilian defender David Luiz couldn’t speak English at all when he moved to Europe in 2007.
It wasn’t until four years later that he moved to Chelsea in England, where his first couple of media interactions were problematic.
However, by the time he left for PSG in 2014, he was well grounded in the language, and another stint in England between 2016 and 2021 has definitely smoothened any rough edges left.
