Premier League players at the World Cup: How do Sunderland compare to their rivals?

It has been an exciting week for on-loan Sunderland defender Lutsharel Geertruida.

The Dutch star was handed a second chance to compete at this summer’s World Cup finals after he was called into the Netherlands squad for the tournament on Monday evening. That came after Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber failed to recover from a groin injury that hampered his involvement during the latter stages of the Gunners successful push for the Premier League title. The former Ajax star did feature as Mikel Arteta’s side suffered penalty shoot-out heartache in their Champions League final meeting with Paris Saint-Germain - but his World Cup dreams have now been ended after he failed to fully recover.

There was an intriguing development in Geertruida’s future at club level on Wednesday when Sunderland revealed they ‘remain in discussions’ with the defender as his loan spell at the Stadium of Light comes to an end. As it stands, he will return to parent club RB Leipzig at the end of this month - but a return to Wearside cannot be ruled out. However, for now, Geertruida will focus on becoming the 12th Sunderland player to be called into his international squad for the World Cup as he joins Brian Brobbey and Robin Roefs in the Netherlands ranks - but how does the number of Sunderland players set to feature in the tournament compare to their Premier League rivals?

Premier League players in World Cup finals squads

Brentford - 4 players

Igor Thiago [Brazil], Jordan Henderson [England], Kristoffer Ajer [Norway], Aaron Hickey [Scotland]

Everton - 4 players

Jordan Pickford [England], Nathan Patterson [Scotland], Idrissa Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye [both Senegal]

Leeds United - 4 players

Ao Tanaka [Japan], Gabriel Gudmundsson [Sweden], Noah Okafor [Switzerland], Brenden Aaronson [United States]

Burnley - 5 players

Axel Tuanzebe [DR Congo], Lyle Foster [South Africa], Hjalmar Ekdal [Sweden], Zeki Amdouni [Switzerland], Hannibal Mejbri [Tunisia]

West Ham United - 5 players

Tomas Soucek [Czech Republic], Aaron Wan-Bissaka [DR Congo], Edson Alvarez [Mexico], Crysencio Summerville [Netherlands], El-Hadji Malick Diouf [Senegal]

AFC Bournemouth - 6 players

Rayan [Brazil], Justin Kluivert [Netherlands], Alex Paulsen [New Zealand], Ryan Christie, Ben Gannon-Doak [Scotland], Tyler Adams [United States]

Nottingham Forest - 6 players

Elliot Anderson [England], Ibrahim Sangare [Ivory Coast], Tyler Bindon, Chris Wood [New Zealand], Angus Gunn [Scotland], Dan Ndoye [Switzerland]

Newcastle United - 7 players

Bruno Guimaraes [Brazil], Yoane Wissa [DR Congo], Dan Burn, Tino Livramento [England], Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade [Germany], Anthony Elanga [Sweden]

Fulham - 7 players

Timothy Castagne [Belgium], Luc de Fougerolles [Canada], Raul Jimenez [Mexico], Issa Diop [Morocco], Sander Berge, Oscar Bobb [Norway], Antonee Robinson [United States]

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 7 players

Sasa Kalajdzic [Austria], Ladislav Krejci [Czech Republic], Jean-Ricner Bellegarde [Haiti], David Moller Wolfe [Norway], Jose Sa [Portugal], Hwang Hee-chan [South Korea], Santiago Bueno [Uruguay]

Brighton & Hove Albion - 8 players

Maxim De Cuyper [Belgium], Pascal Gross [Germany], Bart Verbruggen, Jan Paul van Hecke, Mats Wieffer [Netherlands], Diego Gomez [Paraguay], Yasin Ayari [Sweden], Ferdi Kadioglu [Turkey]

Tottenham Hotspur - 9 players

Kevin Danso [Austria], Cristian Romero [Argentina], Luka Vuskovic [Croatia], Djed Spence [England], Micky van de Ven [Netherlands], Pape Matar Sarr [Senegal], Pedro Porro [Spain], Lucas Bergvall [Sweden], Rodrigo Bentancur [Uruguay]

Aston Villa - 10 players

Emiliano Martinez [Argentina], Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans [Belgium], Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins [England], Lucas Digne [France], Evann Guessand [Ivory Coast], John McGinn [Scotland], Victor Lindelof [Sweden]

Chelsea - 11 players

Enzo Fernandez [Argentina], Mike Penders [Belgium], Moises Caicedo, Kendry Paez [Ecuador], Reece James [England], Malo Gusto [France], Jorrel Hato [Netherlands], Pedro Neto [Portugal], Mamadou Sarr, Nicolas Jackson [Senegal], Marc Cucurella [Spain]

Liverpool - 11 players

Alexis Mac Allister [Argentina], Alisson Becker [Brazil], Mohamed Salah [Egypt], Ibrahima Konate [France], Florian Wirtz [Germany], Wataru Endo [Japan], Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo [Netherlands], Andy Robertson [Scotland], Alexander Isak [Sweden]

Crystal Palace - 12 players

Owen Goodman [Canada], Daniel Munoz, Jefferson Lerma [Colombia], Dean Henderson [England], Maxence Lacroix, Jean-Philippe Mateta [France], Daichi Kamada [Japan], Chadi Riad [Morocco], Jorgen Strand Larsen [Norway], Ismaila Sarr [Senegal], Yeremy Pino [Spain], Chris Richards [United States]

Sunderland - 12 players

Arthur Masuaku, Noah Sadiki [both DR Congo], Nilson Angulo [Ecuador], Wilson Isidor [Haiti], Simon Adingra [Ivory Coast], Chemsdine Talbi [Morocco], Robin Roefs, Lutsharel Geertruida, Brian Brobbey [all Netherlands], Omar Alderete [Paraguay], Habib Diarra [Senegal] Granit Xhaka [Switzerland]

Manchester United - 13 players

Lisandro Martinez [Argentina], Senne Lammens [Belgium], Casemiro, Matheus Cunha [Brazil], Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford [England], Amad [Ivory Coast], Noussair Mazraoui [Morocco], Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes [Portugal], Tyler Fletcher [Scotland], Altay Bayindir [Turkey], Manuel Ugarte [Uruguay]

Arsenal - 15 players

Leandro Trossard [Belgium], Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli [Brazil], Piero Hincapie [Ecuador], Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka [England], William Saliba [France], Kai Havertz [Germany], Martin Odegaard [Norway], David Raya, Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino [all Spain], Viktor Gyokeres [Sweden]

Manchester City - 19 players

Rayan Ait-Nouri [Algeria], Jeremy Doku [Belgium], Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic [Croatia], Omar Marmoush [Egypt], James Trafford, Marc Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, John Stones [England], Rayan Cherki [France], Antoine Semenyo [Ghana], Nathan Ake, Tijjani Reijnders [Netherlands], Erling Haaland [Norway], Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva [Portugal], Rodri [Spain], Abdukodir Khusanov [Uzbekistan]

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