Matěj Vydra

Vydra's career has run through more loan spells than most players get full contracts, yet the pattern that defines him is simpler: he has scored in bursts that forced clubs to take notice. It started at Vysočina Jihlava, continued through a switch to Baník Ostrava that earned him the Czech Revelation of the Year award, and led Udinese to sign him for €4 million while he was still a teenager.

He barely featured during a brief loan at Club Brugge, but at Watford he scored 20 goals in 41 games and being named the Championship's Player of the Season. A second loan spell at Watford brought promotion to the Premier League, after which the club made the move permanent. His most productive spell, statistically, came at Derby County, where in the 2017–18 season he finished as the Championship's top scorer with 21 goals, collecting the Golden Boot, a place in the PFA Championship Team of the Year and the club's Player of the Year award.

Burnley took him to the Premier League on a permanent deal in 2018, and it was there, in February 2020, that he scored a goal away at Southampton that was later voted the division's Goal of the Month. He stayed at Turf Moor until 2022, then returned home on a free transfer to Viktoria Plzeň, where he still plays. He has not won the Czech title there, with Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague sharing the league between them since his arrival.

Internationally, Vydra has become a regular presence for the Czech Republic, reaching 48 caps and seven goals, and was part of the squad at UEFA Euro 2020.