The Premier League often overlooks the ChampionshipÂas a viable recruitment pool, often favouring cheaper, better-proven talents from foreign top flights instead.But England’s second tierÂstill has a lot to offer in terms of future Premier League stars,ÂshouldÂyou know where to look, and just to prove it, here’s a list of FIVE ChampionshipÂprodigies that have reportedly caught West Ham’sÂtransfer attention.The East London side snapped up Diego Poyet and Aaron Cresswell from Championship clubs during the summer. Could one of these FIVE follow their paths in the near future?

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NATHAN REDMOND

The Hammers were strongly linked with Nathan Redmond prior to Norwich City’s £2million swoop for the former Birmingham City youngster in summer 2013:

And the East London side might feel compelled to revive their interest in the touchline-hugging winger after his impressive start to the season.

The 20 year-old’s no goals and three assists in 15 Championship appearances may be rather ordinary output, but statistically, he’s one of the Championship’s most effective attackers. Redmond’s not only at the top of the division’s dribbling charts:

But his 3.2 chances created per match (represented as key passes) is the third-best return in the league:

A regular for England across the junior levels, amassing nine goals and 54 caps from the U16s to U21s, the wide-man is no stranger to the radars of top Premier League clubs, including Liverpool and Manchester City. Here’s a look at Redmond in action:

Having shown glimpses of his potential in the top flight last season as the Canaries failed to stave off relegation, and now demonstrating his dominance of the Championship, if Norwich don’t bounce back as expected this year, it’s likely someone will take Redmond off their hands.

Recent speculation however suggests Southampton are preparing a £5million offer in January.

Dan Burn

Measuring in at a whopping 6 foot 7, everything about centre-back Dan Burn screams Sam Allardyce. The Fulham starlet has been linked with an Upton Park switch in recent weeks, amid concerns that the Hammers could be forced to sell Winston Reid in January:

Not to suggest height is the only thing the West Ham boss looks for in a transfer target – the 22 year-old has largely (excuse the pun) impressed this season City last term, despite the Cottagers struggling at the less flattering end of the league table, following a coming-of-age loan spell at Birmingham. Here’s a look at his stats over the last 18 months:

Burn struggled during his prior Premier League outings and the technical side of his game still requires some work. But he’s an unstoppable force in the air and is at his best when sticking to the basics, which fits perfectly into the defensive mantra West Ham have adopted under Allardyce.

The Irons boss was surprisingly coy when asked about Burn in this week’s press conference:

Whether that rules out a January bid remains open to interpretation, but clearly, the Blyth-born defender has caught somebody’s attention at Upton Park.

MOSES ODUBAJO

Spurs and West Ham were both linked to League One starlet Moses Odubajo during the summer:

…following a campaign in which his twelve goals across all competitions fired Leyton Orient to the League One play-off final – where the 21 year-old netted this absolute stunner against Rotherham:

Brentford snapped up Odujabo, a winger-come-right-back, instead and he’s since adapted well to life in the Championship, as shown below:

Quick, powerful, industrious, versatile and boasting an impressive eye for goal, the Greenwich-born youngster would give the Hammers’ coaching staff a plethora of positive assets to work with.

He won’t be attainable until next summer at the earliest, but should Odubajo remain consistent for the Bees this season, his prior Premier League suitors will undoubtedly revive their interest.

ADAM REACH

According to Here Is The City, West Ham are currently monitoring the development of Middlesbrough winger Adam Reach, despite him recently penning new terms at the Riverside.

The tricky winger, whose understandably earned comparisons with fellow Boro academy products Stewart Downing and Adam Johnson, has been in decent form this season, finding one goal and two assists in 13 starts – including this cheeky finish against Fulham back in October:

He also netted past Liverpool in the Capital One Cup:

The 21 year-old’s output may not be outstanding, but he’s still acquainting himself to second tier level after productive loan spells at Shrewsbury and Bradford last season, ending both tenures with three goals.

Furthermore, he’s averaged the most successful dribbles of any Boro player this season, as shown below:

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With Reach recently agreeing a new four-year deal however, the Boro starlet’s market value is well protected.

Chris Solly

Perhaps Chris Solly is a little old to be considered a genuine Championship prodigy at 23 years of age, but nonetheless, the Charlton defender remains a target the Hammers have run the rule over in the past:

There are certainly better-rounded full-backs in the English second tier but Solly does the simple things well – particularly tackling, with his current average joint-top of the Championship’s tackle charts:

He offers experience too, having made 136 league outings for Charlton since his debut in 2009. Solly’s also won the Player of the Year award twice in that time period, in 2012 and 2013, which tells you how highly-rated he is around the Valley.

The attacking side of Solly’s game is improving too, as the 5 foot 8 defender continues to recover from a near-season-long spell on the sidelines. He’s got the joint-most assists of any Addick this season:

..and netted this absolute stunner against Blackpool at the end of last term:

Should Carl Jenkinson’s loan move not be made permanent at the end of the season, West Ham may revive their interest in the former England U17.

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Many football fans would have been scratching their heads when Neil Lennon took the manager’s job at Bolton Wanderers in October.

The Scot was very impressive at Celtic, guiding his team to a famous Champions League victory over Barcelona as well as performing consistently well in the Scottish Premier League. Many had tipped him to work in English football after he left Celtic, with his name being linked to vacancies at clubs like Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion.

Lennon eventually returned to the game with Bolton Wanderers, a surprise move to a club that was rooted in a relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship. Dougie Freedman, Bolton’s former manager, could only register one league win in the opening 11 games of the Championship season. In Lennon’s first game in charge, he guided Bolton to an important 0-1 away victory against fellow strugglers Birmingham. Since then, Bolton have hit good form and are slowly working their way up the Championship table after a dismal start.

Lennon’s managerial style is plain and simple, he doesn’t muck about. In his first week in charge, he banned Bolton’s players from wearing beanie hats in training. It seemed like Lennon was determined to let the players know who was in charge and this bullish attitude has paid off. Since Lennon took over at Bolton, he has led them to five victories out of a possible nine, only losing twice against Norwich and Charlton. They are currently on a five-match unbeaten streak and have moved up to 17th in the league, four points clear of the relegation zone. It looks as if Lennon has brought stability to a club that had started the season really poorly.

As well as stability, Lennon has encouraged more of an intricate style of football, developing Bolton into a team that pass the ball well, making it easier to keep hold of possession. Bolton had managed to score in every league game since Lennon’s arrival until the 0-0 draw with Reading. However, what is important is that that they pick up points and gradually move up the table. Lennon stated that Bolton could make the play off places if everything went to plan. Whether this is an accurate estimate remains to be seen but what is clear is that Lennon’s fresh impetus and approach to management has transformed things at Bolton.

The signing of Eidur Gudjohnsen will only help the squad by adding experience and quality. Although the former Icelandic international is coming to the end of his career, he will act as a good example for the younger players to follow and his previous associations with the club will mean that he can settle in very quickly. As well as Gudjohnsen, Bolton fans could be seeing former England international and ex-Liverpool striker Emile Heskey featuring for them in the Championship this season.

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The 36-year-old clearly has a wealth of experience to his name and offers excellent physicality up front. Lennon has taken Heskey on a two-week trial to see whether the big striker still has what it takes to perform at this sort of level. Whether he signs or not, Lennon is clearly determined to improve the team and do everything he can in order to give Bolton more of a boost in terms of aiming for the play-off spots.

Credit must also be given to Phil Gartside, the Bolton chairman, who acted quickly and effectively when the club were struggling no end at the lower depths of the Championship. The sacking culture in the Championship is monumental compared to the Premier League at the moment but Gartside’s actions have proved that he made the right decision for the club. The appointment has got the club out of trouble and looking forward, something that didn’t look particularly achievable just a couple of months ago.

On Tuesday 5th July 2005, Steven Gerrard handed in a transfer request to leave Anfield for Chelsea Football Club; just weeks after leading his boyhood club to the much-celebrated Champions League victory against AC Milan in Istanbul.

The transfer request came at a time when Chelsea were at the start of something huge. They had just been crowned league champions and Roman Abromovich was an owner with plenty of ambition and stacks of money to go with it as well. The Blues also had one of the most talented managers in the world in Jose Mourinho, who led Portuguese side Porto to Champions League glory the year before.

In light of Gerrard’s recent announcement, is there still a slight part of Gerrard that wonders what might have been? 2005 was as good as it got for Gerrard in terms of winning trophies for Liverpool. Chelsea, on the other hand, have grown from strength to strength since then, becoming one of Europe’s powerhouses. The one title that alludes Steven Gerrard is probably the most important, the Premier League. If he led Liverpool to glory last season, he may have considered that job done. However, when you are a player possessing Gerrard’s ability, the absence of a league title to your name is almost farcical.

Joining Chelsea would have undoubtedly been a risk, but one that could have paid off. A Chelsea team with Steven Gerrard included would have been sublime, and having a player of that ability in the side could have resulted in more trophies arriving at Stamford Bridge over the years. Although the offer to move to West London would have been a hard one to turn down, Gerrard eventually opted for a heart-over-head decision to stay put with Liverpool.

Some may say that it was the wrong decision. However, Gerrard has become one of the greatest Liverpool players of all time and his commitment to the club will never be forgotten.

His association with Liverpool is similar to the impact Alan Shearer had at Newcastle United. Shearer was offered the chance to sign for Manchester United from Blackburn Rovers in 1996 before deciding to join his beloved Newcastle United. He then went on to become the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer with 260 goals. Shearer will always be remembered for just how good a player he was, not for the amount of trophies he may have lost out on by joining Newcastle.

The same applies to Steven Gerrard, if he is remembered for not winning a Premier League title in 30 years time and not for being one of the finest footballers of his generation, something has seriously gone wrong with the world.

He has enjoyed a glorious career where he has shone at his hometown club, leading them to levels that would have been unachievable in his absence – think of Cardiff in 2006. He became a great England captain and has continued to perform brilliantly on a consistent basis both domestically and internationally.

The only regret that may be in his mind at the moment is the possibility that he is leaving Liverpool football club too early. Realistically, he is still Liverpool’s best player. As he has got older, he adapted his game slightly to suit his tiring legs, yet he is still the club’s top goalscorer this season.

Although Liverpool may feel like it’s the right time to let their captain leave, Frank Lampard has proved at Manchester City that he is still one of the league’s best at what he does. The same applies to Steven Gerrard, there is an overriding sense that he is joining the MLS prematurely and fans of the Premier League are missing out on another couple of seasons of Gerrard at the highest level.

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Overall, Gerrard may look back on what happened in 2005 and wonder if he made the right decision. However, since then he has cemented himself into Anfield folklore and is easily one of the best central midfielders the Premier League, and the world, has ever seen.

He may not have a Premier League title to his name but Gerrard remains one of the greatest talents this country has produced and his achievements in the game will be fondly remembered for a long time to come.

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After plenty of well-documented managerial turmoil at the start of the current campaign, Neil Redfearn became Leeds United’s third manager of the season on November 1st.

It certainly seems to be a case of third time lucky for the Leeds board, as the former caretaker manager, who now finds himself in full charge of first-team matters, looks to be taking the club back in the right direction.

The Leeds fans, who have had more than their fair share of ups and downs in recent years, will know anything is possible at Elland Road. After relegations and numerous fizzled promotion bids, as well as an array of different managers all trying and failing to get the Yorkshire club back to the promised land, the Whites finally look like they have found the right man who can take the club forward.

Since Massimo Cellino took over at Elland Road, he’s earned a reputation of being extremely trigger happy when it comes to sacking managers; Brian McDermott, Dave Hockaday and Darko Milanic have already been shown the door during Cellino’s tenure.

But despite all the off-field upheaval of late, Redfearn has got on with the job on the pitch, and has really started to stamp down his managerial authority. The former Barnsley player may have had an indifferent start managing the club, but after Leeds have secured five wins in their last six Championship games, there hasn’t been this much optimism at Elland Road for a number of years.

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Saturday’s hard-fought 1-0 win at Middlesbrough epitomised the way Leeds have turned their fortunes around under Redfearn. They may have rode their luck at times, but there is a togetherness among the players that has certainly been lacking in recent years. The clean sheet at the Riverside made it three clean sheets in as many league outings, and just four goals conceded in their last eight Championship encounters.

The Whites now sit 11th in the Championship table, 10 points off the relegation zone and 15 off the play-offs. After Leeds’ 2-0 defeat to Derby County in late December, Redfearn’s side sat perilously close to the drop zone, just one point off in 20th place. But United have only dropped seven points from a possible 24 available since, which has seen them move up to mid-table and, most importantly, away from the relegation zone.

Leeds United are still a million miles away from their glory days of yesteryear, and the run of positive results could be just that – a run. But results and good performances breed confidence, and the Whites will be hoping to finish the season extremely strong.

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Cellino will surely know by now that the Yorkshire club are still in transition – but if the controversial owner can give Neil Redfearn the time and backing he needs – then there’s no reason whatsoever why the 49-year-old boss isn’t the right man to take the club to the next level, and give the luckless Leeds fans something to cheer about after far too many years of heartache.

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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has waded into the Raheem Sterling contract saga, stating that the Liverpool starlet and all other players have a price.

The 20-year-old England international caused quite a stir earlier this week when he stated in an interview that Arsenal’s reported interest in him was flattering and confessing that he had turned down a new deal at Anfield.

With Sterling’s future unclear, Chelsea have been linked with an audacious bid for the sprightly forward at the end of the season.

When asked on his opinion about Sterling’s situation on Merseyside, Mourinho stated that every player can be sold if the correct price is put forward.

“I don’t like players that don’t want to play for me and my club, clearly,” the Portuguese manager is quoted as saying by The BBC.

“Every player has a price. It doesn’t matter which player. If you ask me now, for example, Eden Hazard, we can speak about him because he’s signed a new contract.

“Do I want him to leave Chelsea? No. If he wants to leave, if he doesn’t want to work with me, if he doesn’t want to play for Chelsea, does Eden Hazard have a price? I think he has a price.

“I also understand the philosophy of managers and clubs who want to keep the players at any price, who want just to say, ‘there is no price to sell – the player stays, whatever’.

“My philosophy is not better than that – it’s just different. Either way, when a player has a contract with a club, the club, the manager and the board have the power to decide what to do.”

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Sterling is set to step out for the Reds today in a crunch clash against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, with the youngster set for a mixed reception.

His current deal runs until the summer of 2017, with his future set to be determined this summer.

With four games to go Swansea City are up in eighth with 50 points which is already eight more than they had at the end of last season and Swans supporters know they have Garry Monk to thank for their success.

Following ten years as a centre-back for the Swans Monk crossed over to management when Michael Laudrup was sacked from the job. It wasn’t always easy but in his first season, four months of which he was in charge, the Swans survived a relegation battle and Monk was rewarded with a three year contract.

This 2014/15 campaign started well with Swansea winning all of their August fixtures including a famous 2-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford and they cruised into the 3rd round of the League Cup by beating Rotherham United. Since then Monk’s men have lost 12 times in the league which is only twice more than both Liverpool and Tottenham who currently sit in the Europa League spots a feat that all at the Liberty stadium should be proud of.

As this has been his first taste of management Garry Monk has had to learn on the job. The fact that it is a Premier League team that he has been leading has made the job that much more difficult and therefore his achievement is even more inspiring.

Monk spent a decade at the club and had the honour of being their captain so you could say it has been easier to manage Swansea, a team he knows inside out, but a genuine aptitude for getting the most out of his players has also had to exist. Remarkably he is only a few years older than some of his squad and at 36 Monk could still be playing professionally like fellow defender Rio Ferdinand, who is four months older than him, but instead he has sacrificed his own career to begin life as a coach.

With the Swans likely to finish above Everton and Newcastle Monk is considered to have the potential to be a future top manager and whenever managers of small clubs get their teams to punch above their weight then invariably they get associated with a move to a bigger club and this case is no exception. Sam Allardyce is expected to leave West Ham as his contract is nearing its end and yet negotiations for a renewal have not begun. The Hammers are sitting in 11th so a move right now to Upton Park really doesn’t look like a step up and Monk was right to recently distance himself from these rumours.

After all he is happy where he is. And with only eight points separating Swansea from a possible place in the Europa League that should be their target in the coming years. But not yet and Monk has rightly claimed that his side are not quite ready to play in a competition which would see them playing fixtures on a Thursday evening when they should be preparing for the weekend games. Where the tournament was once seen as a good chance for an emerging club to make a name for themselves now many Premier League teams actually think it detracts from their domestic campaign and thus would rather avoid it.

Swansea need to focus on the league for another season and of course strengthen first in the upcoming window then the following year perhaps it’d be a good time to dip their toes in.

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It is still early days for the young manager and the next few years will prove whether he has what it takes to survive not only in the role but in this league. But so far he has shown Swansea were right to give him a chance, now we’ll have to wait and see just how far he can take it.

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Just when Arsenal thought they could look forward to a summer without anyone attempting to poach their biggest stars – see the Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie sagas of 2011 and 2012 respectively – along come Manchester City with an audacious plan to steal a player who has been at the club all his life.

The Citizens are set to strengthen considerably in the coming weeks as they look to put up a decent fight for the Premier League crown that they surrendered so feebly last season, and if they fail in their bid to lure Liverpool’s unsettled forward Raheem Sterling from Anfield to the Etihad, then they could turn their sights towards a certain Jack Wilshere.

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At 23 years of age, Wilshere is the poster boy for the new Arsenal generation. There may be flashier and better known players in the current squad, but Wilshere is the born-and-bred Gunner, the Steven Gerrard of north London who many fans hope can one day captain the side and lead them to glory.

Losing the midfielder to one of their biggest rivals would arguably be a greater loss than both Fabregas and van Persie not only due to Wilshere’s close, long-standing connections to the club, but also because Arsenal are showing signs that they are becoming a side that can once again seriously challenge for the title.

Selling Wilshere would undermine the work done over the past two years to bring success back to the club, and may see many of Arsenal’s stars wondering whether they can truly compete at the very top level at the Emirates Stadium.

City are willing to offer their target up to £150,000-a-week to make the move north, which would represent a vast salary increase on his current £90,000-a-week deal. Wilshere still has three years remaining on his contract, which has led to the Arsenal hierarchy expressing confidence that they will not be bullied into having to cash in or increase his wages to stave the threat of an offer from City.

However, money speaks louder than loyalty in modern football, and Arsenal ought to be very careful about adopting such a naive approach. No matter how long he has been at the club, the prospect of nearly doubling his salary at City will be hugely appealing for Wilshere, and Arsenal must surely want to avoid him becoming another in a long line of former Gunners (Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna) who have made the switch to City, enticed by their enviable riches.

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While there is still room for improvement in Wilshere’s game, his two-goal performance for England away to Slovenia last week – not to mention his spectacular strike for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion on the last day of the season – shows that he is a player with huge potential. If the Gunners wish to re-emerge as a major force in English football, they must do all they can to keep Wilshere at the club – even if that means matching the financial might of Manchester City.

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For what seems an eternity there has been constant talk of Arsenal’s need for a new top striker if they want to go that extra mile in the league and become Premier League champions once again.

Household names like Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all been heavily linked with moves to the club this summer.

However, the club have just let the man that would have solved all their striker troubles leave on loan. Chuba Akpom, one of the stars of the Arsenal U21 team, who has just been loaned to Hull for the season.

Olivier Giroud is the main striker at the club, and deservedly so. In the Frenchman the club has the perfect striker to suit Arsenal’s style of play. He is strong on the ball, has incredible movement and technical ability, can hold the ball up well then bring team mates into play and of course that wonderful eye for goal.

The France international loves the big games and rarely goes missing when his side really need him.

Currently Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck are the back up strikers, but neither player is truly comfortable filling the lone striker role. They lack the strength and hold up ability needed to succeed in the role. They would be better out wide, or playing off a striker.

And Akpom would have been perfect to fill in for Giroud this season when needed.

Wenger has always been good at introducing talented members of the youth side into the first team and giving them their chance, a believer of the statement ‘If he’s good enough he is old enough.’

The youngster is an out and out striker, who regularly impresses for the U21 side and deserves a chance at first team football for the Gunners.

He is used to playing in the lone striker role and possesses a number of important qualities. Standing at just over six foot, the player is a big strong striker with a great aerial presence, but also possesses a great deal of pace.

One of his best attributes is his constant movement, Akpom is always looking to find space and get on the ball. He is technically gifted and loves to run with the ball to unsettle defenders.

The striker offers something slightly different to Giroud in to his pace and movement, but he has all the physical and mental attributes to suit Arsenal’s tactics.

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With players like Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsay, Santi Carzola and Jack Wilshere joining in the attacking threat, it puts a lot less pressure on the striker to carry the side and this would certainly suit the young talent.

Akpom has some serious potential and given a chance in the first team he will only get better and better. Wenger shouldn’t have let a talent like this go to waste.

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According to Corriere dello Sport, AC Milan are desperate to sign Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele during the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Dembele, who is valued at £16.2m by transfermarkt.co.uk, is still very much a key figure at Tottenham, but he has actually only started nine Premier League matches for the London club this season.

Talk that the 30-year-old is considering his future at the club has gathered pace in recent weeks, and according to Corriere dello Sport, AC Milan will test the waters with a bid during this month’s transfer window.

It is understood that Dembele is open to moving to Italy as he looks to sample a different league, and Tottenham could sell as they are well stocked in the middle of the park, especially considering the fact that Victor Wanyama has recently returned to first-team training.

Dembele is widely regarded as one of the best technicians in the Premier League, but it is often said that he falls just short of the top level due to the lack of goals in his game.

Just how good is Dembele?

There are few midfielders in the Premier League that can protect a ball like Dembele. The Belgian combines physical strength with technical ability, and it would be fair to say that he is one of the best players to watch in England’s top flight when driving through the lines.

The 30-year-old has only ever scored seven Premier League goals for Tottenham, however, and only netted once throughout the whole of last season.

When considering that the Belgian has an explosive strike, it is bizarre that he does not find the back of the net on a regular basis.

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Tottenham are a better team when Dembele takes to the field, but he is not getting any younger, and his lack of goals and assists are a problem for a team looking to challenge for the biggest prizes.

Just one week ago, Football FanCast lamented James Ward-Prowse’s failure to consistently grab games by the scruff of the neck after scoring the only goal in an FA Cup win over Fulham. The one-cap England international may have done it against Championship opposition, but that only epitomised the infuriation that accompanies him; Ward-Prowse boasts all the technical ability a Premier League player could want but during his 155 top flight appearances to date, he’s very rarely transitioned it into match-winning prowess.

And thus, the curse of the commentator – or in this case, the writer – strikes again. Rather than being a rare reminder of what the 23-year-old is truly capable of, the winning goal against Fulham appears to have been something of a turning point for Ward-Prowse, who followed it up with a vital brace against Watford in Saturday’s 2-2 draw.

His opening strike was delicately placed into the bottom corner, but it was the previous movement rather than the finish itself that made the goal happen – ghosting into the box to feed off a backheel from Dusan Tadic. For his second goal, meanwhile, the midfielder became the spare man on the counter-attack, another well-timed run leaving Ward-Prowse with little to do but slot past the goalkeeper as Saints marauded up the pitch on the break.

The other aspects of Ward-Prowse’s game remained predictably solid; completing the most tackles, taking the most shots and launching the most accurate crosses of any Saints player. So if Ward-Prowse can combine that technical consistency with the movement and instinct to regularly find the net, he’ll no doubt become a crucial player for Southampton in the coming weeks – especially as the south coast side find themselves only one point clear of the relegation zone ahead of Stoke City’s visit to Manchester United.

With just nine top-flight goals to date, however, that’s still a very big if – but one Gareth Southgate will no doubt be taking a huge interest in as he prepares England for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This coming stretch of games could well prove to be Ward-Prowse’s coming of age, the moment he transitions from merely a tidy footballer to a genuine match-winner.

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