English Football League / Sean Calvert / 28 August 2007 /

The man with the Baggie Trousers, Sean Calvert, looks at the top Championship players who may be moving up a division by Friday

The closure of the transfer window on Friday can't come soon enough for a few Championship clubs, who will be trying to keep money-grabbing agents from prising away their saleable assets before the weekend.

Southampton are one such club and The Saints currently have striker, Kenwyne Jones, on strike at St Mary's. The Trinidad and Tobago international has scored 19 goals in 44 appearances for Saints after familiarising himself with English Championship football during loan spells with Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday, but has handed in a transfer request and refused to play in the home win over Stoke on Saturday. Derby have lodged a £2 million bid, but Saints are looking to receive a fee closer to £5 million for a striker that scored 16 times last season, but whose popularity rating in Southampton is now akin to that of Rob Styles' in the red half of Liverpool.

Saints would also do well to keep hold of classy midfielder, Andrew Surman, who scored a great goal with a shot from distance and set up Rasiak's headed goal with a perfect cross on Saturday. The South African born playmaker with a cultured left foot, scored a wonderful hat-trick against Barnsley in February, including two long-range strikes and has drawn comparisons with former Championship Player of the Season, Jason Koumas. Stuart Pearce for England Under-21's and Carlos Alberto Perreira for South Africa were present on Saturday to watch him and there could be a battle for his services for both club and country developing very soon.

Ipswich Town's youth system has produced a number of top players over the years - Titus Bramble aside - and the latest product of the academy at Portman Road is 19 year-old Owen Garvan. The Irish starlet made his full debut for the Tractor Boys aged just 16 and is now establishing himself as a regular in the midfield, having made 24 league starts last season. The left footed playmaker has an excellent passing range and has had the scouts sniffing around Portman Road of late checking on his progress. Town have made a good start to the season and are currently 7.2 to go up.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the job security of Martin Jol, Spurs are always on the look out for the best of the young English Championship talent. There's a good chance that Plymouth's Dan Gosling could be the next player to try the step up to Premier League level if reports are correct, with both Spurs and Everton interested in the 17 year old midfield star, who spent a week training with Chelsea last year and has been influential for the England Under 17's. Plymouth have put a £2.5 million price tag on the youngster in anticipation of bids. Holloway is building a decent side at Plymouth (14 for promotion) and there could also be moves made for striker, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake (70 to be top scorer) and midfielder, David Norris, both of whom have impressed at Championship level.

Burnley boss, Steve Cotterill, will be fending off interest in prize asset, Kyle Lafferty for the next few days and probably again in January if the young striker continues his rise to prominence. The 19-year-old Northern Ireland striker has been the subject of interest from Fulham and Cotterill has had to issue a 'hands-off' warning to clubs interested in Lafferty, who scored his first international goal last week and looks set for a bright future.

The largest grossing transfer fee will most likely be paid for the services of West Brom (3.65 for promotion) centre-back, Curtis Davies, who looks set for a move to either Spurs or Aston Villa for a fee in the region of £8 million. The England Under-21 international is currently not being considered for selection at The Hawthorns, due to the transfer speculation.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: