QPR, Swans and Birmingham starlets destined for PL moves?
The Championship season is hotting up and the Premier League clubs are sure to be keeping tabs on those in the thick of the promotion action.
Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips, West Brom’s Nathan Ferguson and Brentford’s Ollie Watkins have all been linked to clubs in the Promised Land.
However, further down the standings, players are excelling for their sides who would also surely relish a crack at the top flight.
Eberechi Eze
Queen’s Park Rangers’ Eze is hardly a new name to most but deserves recognition in this category.
Born in Greenwich, the 21-year-old first found himself at Millwall but was released in 2016, going on to a short spell working in Tesco, before being handed a trial by Chris Ramsey.
A shrewd move it has proved and after enjoying a loan spell at Wycombe in 2017-18, he has been a key component under first Steve McClaren and now Mark Warburton.
Eze has 11 goals and six assists for 16th-placed QPR and plays with the rare enthusiasm of a kid who looks like he is kicking about against a wall with his mates.
The leveller ⚖#QPRSTO pic.twitter.com/tB7K4ohdKI
— QPR FC (@QPR) February 16, 2020
At 21, there is still time to iron out some of his flaws and having been linked to Sheffield United in January, this boy will be a Premier League star.
Joe Rodon
Cool, calm and collected, 11th-placed Swansea’s Rodon has been compared to Manchester City’s John Stones and Monday has seen the Welshman linked with a summer move to the Etihad.
Having played his entire senior career, barring a loan spell at Cheltenham, for the Swans, he may have some loyalty to the Liberty Stadium club but the chance to move into the top flight will be a tough one to turn down.
An ankle injury has limited Rodon to just 17 appearances this season, but it is no coincidence that his team kept a clean sheet in last Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Queens Park Rangers, only to concede four in Friday’s tie at Hull City without him.
With two months of the season remaining to work his way back to full fitness, the 22-year-old may also be in the shop window over the summer on the international stage, with Rodon set to feature for Wales at Euro 2020.
Jude Bellingham
Finally to a star the world seems to be waiting for in 16th-placed Birmingham’s Bellingham.
Manchester United and Manchester City have been linked with his signature and, wait for it…he’s still only 16.
Becoming the club’s youngest player just 39 days after receiving his National Insurance number, Bellingham has belied his age to be arguably his team’s best player this term.
With 25 starts, four goals and two assists, the winger has embraced his rise and November’s EFL Young Player of the Month is sure to be a regular in the gossip columns between now and the summer.
