Pleasing.

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Guardian article on whether the Championship is the best league in the country - includes a couple of paras (below) on how many good players there are in it. Not a mention of any of ours.

That's what you want to see in This Kind of Thing (especially with January approaching...). Am well aware that premier league team scouts are probably a bit better informed than Ben Fisher. But still, do think it hints at the fact that we haven't got many players actually getting that much attention - must be a good thing.

"There is arguably unrivalled talent too for a second tier. The on-loan Harvey Barnes, Mason Mount, Harry Wilson and Tammy Abraham have particularly excelled. John McGinn has proven himself a class act at Aston Villa, alongside one of the most gifted players in the division, Jack Grealish. Jake Livermore was on World Cup standby for England last summer; in fact, 31 second-tier players represented their country in Russia. Joe Allen is a luxury commodity at this level and it is only a matter of time before Brentford’s Ollie Watkins is playing in the Premier League.

But those names only scratch the surface. Have a quick scan at the Stoke substitutes against Derby last week, for example. Bruno Martins Indi helped the Netherlands to third at the 2014 World Cup and Porto to the Champions League quarter-finals a year on. Darren Fletcher has a trophy cabinet full of major honours. Peter Crouch is still scoring goals at 37. A few days later at Reading, the Stoke bench included the Wales captain Ashley Williams and Saido Berahino, whose 913-day goal drought can be ridiculed but who has shown glimpses of the ability that led Spurs to bid £23m for the striker three years ago. And then there is Bojan Krkic."

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Dec 6, 10:27:01