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Five Championship players who could move to the Premier League this summer

The impacts of the Coronavirus crisis on the summer transfer window are yet to fully seen. However, with clubs placing players on furlough and struggling financially due to a huge loss of income, it is suspected that we won’t see them splashing the cash quite as freely this summer. It could mean clubs looking towards the lower league for talent instead and, in the Championship, there is plenty on offer. We look at five Championship players who could move to the Premier League this summer

 

Jude Bellingham

No other Championship players have been the subject of more transfer rumours in recent weeks than Birmingham midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Still just 16-years-old, Bellingham is Birmingham’s youngest ever player, breaking a record set in 1970 by a fresh-faced Trevor Francis.

The question isn’t whether Bellingham is still playing in the Championship next season, he won’t be, it’s whether he opts for the Premier League or the Bundesliga.

With Manchester United having chased his signature for weeks, it is now being reported that he favours a move to Borussia Dortmund and could be set to sign there. Dortmund have a track record for nurturing young talent, as they have proved with the rise of former Manchester City player Jadon Sancho.

Could we see Bellingham take a similar route to the Premier League, returning as a superstar for a huge transfer fee after being trained by Dortmund? Or will he take the direct route to Manchester United?

 

Ollie Watkins

22 goals and 3 assists mean that, with 25, the Brentford forward has the most goal contributions of any Championship players so far this season.

In his third season in the Championship, 24-year-old Watkins is at the perfect age to make the step up. Old enough to have plenty of peak years ahead but not young enough to have a lot of time to waste, he’ll definitely see this summer as an opportunity to make the step up should Brentford fail to win promotion.

In fairness The Bees could do just that. Currently fourth in the table and five points clear of seventh, Thomas Frank’s side will be confident of earning a playoff spot even if automatic promotion is now probably beyond them. Naturally this all assumes the season is finished.

If Brentford do fail to win promotion, Watkins will definitely have his suitors this summer. West Ham, who recently splurged on another Championship hotshot in Jarrod Bowen, are rumoured to be interested.

 

Eberechi Eze

Tottenham, West Ham and Crystal Palace have all been credited with an interest in QPR’s tricky attacking midfielder and it’s not hard to see why.

With 12 goals and 8 assists this season, the 21-year-old Englishman has 20 goal contributions and is second in the assist charts behind Millwall’s Jed Wallace.

Though we should probably take it as red that West Ham will have been linked with every player in this list, or just all Championship players generally, it stands to reason that Spurs and Palace, both of whom are crying out for the sort of creativity that Eze can provide, would be interested.

With a rumoured asking price of £20 million, it seems that Eze will be staying in London this summer, though which corner of it is yet to be decided.

 

Aleksandar Mitrovic

In honesty it’s surprising that the Championship’s current top scorer, with 23 goals, is still featuring in lists of Championship players.

Having already had a taste of the Premier League last season, Mitrovic netted a credible 11 goals in 37 appearances for a Fulham side who were in disarray. It can’t have been easy playing under three separate managers  but Mitrovic’s 11 goals represented just under a third of Fulham’s season tally.

They did extremely well to keep him and it proved a shrewd decision, as his goals this term have fired The Cottagers to third in the Championship table. However, six points behind West Brom in second, Fulham surely need promotion if they are to retain the Serbian for another campaign.

Mysteriously there hasn’t been much transfer speculation around Mitrovic so far but, come the summer, plenty of mid-table clubs should be interested.

 

Matty Cash

Former midfielder Matty Cash was converted into a makeshift right back for Nottingham Forest and has made the position his own.

Linked with a surprise move to AC Milan in the January transfer window, Everton, Southampton and West Ham (of course) were also rumoured to be keen. However, he opted to stay at the City Ground and put in some fantastic performances until the league’s suspension.

He has been a big part of the reason that Forest have conceded just 38 goals in 37 matches so far, giving them the joint-fourth meanest defence in the league.

With Forest fifth and firmly ensconced in the playoff picture, Cash is another one whose future could depend on the outcome of the season for his club.

At just 22-years-old, plenty of Premier League clubs will be crying out for one of the most talented Championship players in the next transfer window.

 


 

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