The up-and-coming Championship youngsters you should know

A lot of you do not get the opportunity to watch the English Championship every week, so we thought we’d introduce you to some of the young players who you could hear a lot about in upcoming transfer windows.

Hayden Hackney — Middlesbrough

Hackney is 23, so we’re stretching the definition of youngster here, and he’s certainly not unknown to readers of this newsletter. But I couldn’t do this post without briefly mentioning that this guy should have moved to the Premier League this summer, and it’s ridiculous that all the teams in the bottom half of the table with crummy ball progression couldn’t find £20m in their couch cushions for this dude.

While Hackney certainly has some athletic limitations, I’d be willing to be that someone who’s been as consistently good at ball progression as him over the past few seasons can figure out how to remain a productive player despite that.

Rocco Vata — Watford

Vata wasn’t terribly productive in his first season for Watford, following his move from Celtic. But the beginning of this season has been a completely different story, with Vata looking like one of the most productive wingers in the division. He’s been a dribbling machine, and he’s getting into great shooting positions too.

His chance creation volume has been great — Vata’s 6.32 shots + key passes per 90 is the highest among U-23 players in the Championship. He’s always had some highlight tricks and flicks, but he’s adding the end product to go with it. That earned him his senior Ireland debut earlier this fall.

Joshua Quarshie — Southampton

The Saints picked up this big lad from Germany for £3m, and I think they’re going to sell him for quite a bit more than that. Check out the aerial win% on this 6’5” center back.

Combined with some solid passing and tackling stats, Quarshie’s overall profile looks very exciting. He also appears quick for his size when you watch him. Now, if we can only get Southampton on this whole set pieces trend. How does this guy have zero set piece goals or assists in current year?

Jordan James — Leicester City

This is hardly a surprise inclusion; James previously starred in the division for Birmingham City and has been a Wales regular for a couple years now. But he’s been loaned back to the Championship after an average first season with Rennes in Ligue 1, and picking up where he left off previously.

While James might not have the obvious athleticism or passing ability to become a star in a higher division, he’s obviously too good of an all-around midfielder to stick in the Championship. Leicester are pretty clearly going to trigger his £4m option to buy, and they might even end up insta-flipping him if they don’t get promoted.

Alfie Devine — Preston North End

Devine has gotten stuck in the same place a lot of players from big Premier League academies get stuck in: A good footballer, but not a strong enough goal and assist threat to justify being a full-time 10, and not good enough defensively to stick as a deeper CM. But the Tottenham loanee might be putting the pieces together that lets him have a career as a No. 8 at a higher level.

He still looks very much like a player who wants to be an attacking midfielder and is having to learn a more balanced role, but age 21 is a reasonable time for a player to make that transition. I think he might end up being a bit of a late bloomer as a deep-lying playmaker.

Richard Kone — Queens Park Rangers

A few readers might have heard Kone’s story before. He first arrived in England from the Ivory Coast to play in the Homeless World Cup, and signed for non-league club Athletic Newham. It took some time for him to get visa issues sorted to allow him to play professional football, but he eventually earned a move to Wycombe, where he was the League One player of the season last campaign.

QPR picked him up, and he’s been a big volume shooter in a bit of a half-and-half striker/AM role, which has both his striker and AM radars looking a bit strange at the moment.

In any event, he’s got 4 goals from 25 shots and is adapting to the Championship well.

Mihailo Ivanovic — Millwall

I have a type, and it’s big fellas who win the ball in the air.

Ivanovic had a solid debut campaign for Millwall last year, scoring 11 non-penalty goals, but he did it from just 6 xG. This year, he’s having the opposite kind of luck: 1 non-penalty goal from 3 xG. I’m not concerned about him turning it around, just keep getting your noggin on the ball, bud.

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