The Championship is a wild world, and it's formed some of our most loved stars of the Premier League and beyond. Nobody encapsulates that more than current PL Poster Boy Jack Grealish, who spent three explosive years setting the Championship alight before returning to take the top flight by storm. It's not just him though - right now Ollie Watkins, Patrick Bamford, Jarrod Bowen and loads more are all having their moment in the sun; and we wanted to get ahead of the curve on who the next ballers ready to take the step up are.


So we called in one of the big guns and welcomed our friend Ali Maxwell of the Not The Top 20 Podcast, the experts on everything Championship and beyond, to the virtual studio. We discussed a whole load of players, including Brentford's Josh DaSilva and Rico Henry, Reading's Michael Olise, Swansea's Ben Cabango and Stoke City's Tyrese Campbell - looking at how they play, where they might fit, and who has their eyes on these young stars.


We also got a quick update from Ali on some of the big name loanees in the second tier - Liverpool's Harvey Elliott and Harry Wilson, on loan at Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City respectively; Tottenham's Ollie Skipp, who's anchoring the midfield of Norwich City; and Chelsea's Marc Guehi, back at Swansea City.


This week's 'Things We Loved' included Dean talking about Wayne Rooney taking on the (player-)managerial hotseat at Derby County; Sam discussing the Football Manager 2021 beta and how much he's enjoying it; and Jack pouring out some praise for the joyful, swashbuckling USMNT and their new crop of young ballers taking up the mantle. There's a new Melon of the Week from the International Break, and Sam's Gibberish involves the very 'English' things that he just doesn't like, to much chagrin. It's Ranks!
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