Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
5. Charlie Austin – Striker – Swindon Town. Austin has attracted the interest of several top flight and championship clubs already this year, and at just 21 the striker certainly has age on his side. Austin played at non-league level until 2009, when he was signed by Swindon, but his impressive recent form means that Danny Wilson will do well to keep him for much longer. Would demand a fee of around £700,000
4. Connor Wickham – Striker – Ipswich Town. Some have argued that Wickham is the best young English striker in the game at the moment, and with praise like that it isn’t hard to see why the big clubs are sniffing. At just 17 years old he is already a first team regular at Ipswich and has been capped at England Under-21 level. Not a prolific goal scorer as yet, but his ability to hold the ball up and bring other players into the game is his main asset. Will almost certainly end up playing in the Premiership, but whether this will happen in this transfer window remains to be seen. Hard to fix a price, but I can’t see Ipswich letting him go for much less than £2.5 million.
3. Joe Lewis – Goalkeeper – Peterborough United. Lewis is without a doubt one of the best shot stoppers outside the Premiership at the moment. Has already told his club that he wants to leave to play at a higher level and as a result has attracted the interest of Premiership and Championship clubs. New boss Darren Ferguson will have a real job in attempting to persuade Lewis to stay and his only argument may be that it will be hard for Lewis to walk straight in as a top flight number one. Would demand a fee of at least £600,000.
2. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Winger – Southampton. The Southampton academy has already produced current Premiership stars Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, and Oxade-Chamberlain seems set to be their next success. At 17 years old, the winger is being talked about as a similar player to Walcott, and his pace and skill are making a mockery of League One full-backs. Southampton will know that they won’t be able to hold on to Oxade-Chamberlain for much longer if he keeps producing performances like he has done this season, especially as Liverpool, Fulham and Arsenal are all interested. A £10 million price tag has been reported in the media, but I think if a £3 million offer came along, it would be almost impossible for Southampton to refuse.
1. Dale Jennings – Midfielder/Striker – Tranmere Rovers. At 18 years old, Jennings has emerged this year out of relative obscurity. He was given a first team chance through injuries at Tranmere, and has set League One alight so far this season. Jennings is blessed with blistering pace, and is capable of playing both up front and on the wing. After just five months of first team football, he has attracted the interest of Everton, Sunderland, West Brom and Fulham. I think that Tranmere will be consigned to losing Jennings, and will do well to get £1 million plus for him, thus making him such an attractive proposition.
So there you have it, that’s my top 5 to watch this transfer window. All that’s left to do now is see what happens...
This is a complete rip off. Check Paul Fletcher's blog on the BBC. The little summary of Dale Jennings is almost word-for-word
Very interesting article. As a Liverpool fan, I hope we can get hold of Oxlade-Chamberlain. There seem to be a lot of promising youngsters in the English league at the moment - and with the quality that Watford are getting from their academy at the moment, I suspect we'll be seeing a few more big names coming from that club in the near future!
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