The summer’s international stars who can light up EFL

The summer starts to end when the English Football League begins.

But some of the EFL’s biggest stars have had little time on the sun loungers sipping cocktails as they have been playing in big international tournaments for their countries.

BBC Sport looks at some of the summer’s international stand-outs who may well be lighting up the English Football League this season.

Among them is a man who got the better of Cristiano Ronaldo – and another whose middle name is Zidane. Yes, you read that right…

Having lost in the Championship play-offs to Leeds United and then faced the likes of Lionel Messi, Alexis Mac Allister and Alphonso Davies at the Copa America, Norwich’s Marcelino Nunez could be forgiven for wanting a rest.

The Chile midfielder was part of his nation’s squad at the Copa America in a group with World Cup winners Argentina, Canada and Peru.

Sadly for the 24-year-old, his country did not progress out of the group after goalless draws with Canada and Peru and a 1-0 loss to Argentina.

With a deal that runs to the summer of 2026, expect to see Nunez at Carrow Road again this season – he has made 81 appearances in the Canaries’ engine room since signing from Universidad Catolica two years ago.

Everybody’s second team at the Euros was Georgia (unless you were a Scotland fan, in which case it was whoever was playing England…).

And the lowest-ranked team in the tournament did not disappoint as they made it out of the group stage with Watford midfielder Giorgi Chakvetadze helping to pull the strings.

Chakvetadze played in all four of Georgia’s matches as they went out 4-1 to eventual champions Spain in the last 16.

But in the group stage they impressed, bouncing back from a 3-1 loss against Turkey to draw 1-1 with Czech Republic before a memorable 2-0 victory over group winners Portugal that had fans dancing on the streets of Tbilisi.

The 24-year-old made his move to Vicarage Road permanent in February after initially joining from Belgian side Gent on loan a year ago and will hope to add to the one goal he scored for Watford last season.

Hornets boss Tom Cleverley is among those expecting Chakvetadze to make a big impact.

Having moved to Coventry City for a club-record £7.7m last summer, big things were expected of Haji Wright in a Sky Blue shirt.

His season started slowly, but the 26-year-old burst into life come the turn of the year as he scored 12 goals from January onwards to help Coventry finish ninth in the Championship – as well as having a big hand in their dream FA Cup run.

Wright struck a stoppage-time winner at Premier League side Wolves in the quarter -finals before converting a similarly late penalty to make it 3-3 against Manchester United in the semi-final which they heartbreakingly went on to lose on spot-kicks.

That form led to the 26-year-old being called up for the United States for the Copa America on home turf and he featured in their 1-0 group loss to Uruguay alongside Norwich City’s Josh Sargent.

“Isn’t he the lad that was at Barnsley?” I muttered as Callum Styles came off the bench for Hungary at Euro 2024.

He is – although he was at Sunderland for the second half of last season after a loan switch at the end of the winter transfer window.

The 24-year-old played the final half-hour in his country’s 1-0 win over Scotland to earn his 23rd cap for the Magyars.

The Bury-born player qualifies for his adopted nation thanks to his Hungarian grandmother and is likely to grace the EFL again this season, although it is not clear for whom.

His loan to Sunderland included an option to buy the player permanently – something that has yet to be confirmed one way or another.

Jamaica’s squad for the Copa America was packed with players from the English Football League.

Coventry City duo Kasey Palmer and Joel Latibeaudiere, Millwall’s Wes Harding, Di’Shon Bernard from Sheffield Wednesday and Michael Hector of Charlton were among the EFL’s band of Reggae Boyz.

But we are going to highlight Hector’s 19-year-old team-mate Karoy Anderson – a man whose middle name is Zidane.

The midfielder had not played an EFL game until the start of last season, having spent the start of 2023 on loan at National League side Aldershot Town where he featured five times.

But by this summer he had established himself in the Addicks’ line-up and was called up for the Copa America after making his Jamaica debut last October.

He played against Ecuador and Venezuela as Jamaica lost all three of their group games.

Anderson also played in Jamaica’s World Cup qualifying win over Dominican Republic in June and made his first start three days later in a 3-2 win over Dominica.

Plymouth Argyle is a long way from almost everywhere else in the Championship – and Ben Waine has had to travel almost as far as you can to get to the club.

The New Zealand striker joined the Pilgrims in January last year and is a regular in the All Whites squad.

Aged 23, he qualified for the Kiwis’ Olympic team and started all three of his country’s matches at Paris 2024.

Waine got the winner for his side in their 2-1 win over Guinea in their opening group match, but they missed out on a place in the knockout stages after a 4-1 loss to the United States and a 3-0 defeat by hosts France.

Still, his side’s early exit from the Olympics will mean he is back in Devon in time for the start of the new season.