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As the greatest, richest league in the world, the English Premier League is, understandably, hotly anticipated. Clubs in the second tier of the English game, the Championship, often spend exorbitant sums of money to reach the pinnacle of the game, in terms of finances anyway, and hope that their investments are justified.
As a result of the juicy carrot of the Premier League broadcasting money being dangled in front of them, second tier clubs have started to spend unheard of sums of money at the lower level. In the past, we have seen this result in success in terms of promotion, but a serious lack of sustainability.
Due to this upheaval of sorts, the newly promoted teams bring with them some of the most exciting talents to the Premier League. In this slideshow, I will try and ascertain the 5 most exciting players from Cardiff, Fulham and Wolves, that I can't wait to see in action.
The scope of the list is limited to players who played in the Championship for these three clubs last season, thereby disqualifying the likes of Rui Patricio and Jean Michael Seri.
#5 Callum Patterson
A bit of an unknown quantity to kick us off, Callum Patterson surprised quite a few with his impressive performances in the Championship last year. He broke into senior football whilst playing for Heart of Midlothian in Scotland. He won promotion as a winner of the Scottish Championship and won the Hearts young player of the year award ahead of his move to Cardiff, making his Scotland debut in the process.
Despite normally playing as a right back, his manager Neil Warnock, shifted him to a more attacking, midfield position since he wasn't sure if Patterson's defensive skills were good enough. Rather than be demoralised, Patterson took to his new role like a duck to water, top-scored for Cardiff in the Championship and in the process solved Warnock's problem pertaining to a lack of goals from midfield.
His ability to create a goal out of nothing makes him an exciting watch and Cardiff will be hoping he can help in their quest for survival.
#4 Tom Cairney
The oldest entrant on this list at 27, Tom Cairney is also the only entrant who has previously played in the Premier League. He did so 8 years ago, in 2010, for Hull City as they got relegated from the Premier League. Cairney's role in Hull's promotion in 2012-13 was restricted by injury and his career appeared to be stalling as he struggled to stay fit.
But a move to Blackburn was the reprieve he needed as Cairney showed glimpses of his quality. Unfortunately, injuries hadn't yet left him alone and he would miss chunks of both the seasons he spent at Ewood Park.
His move to Fulham saw an upturn in fortunes as Cairney increased his goalscoring output from midfield and Cairney truly led from the front as he was joint-top scorer for Fulham and won the EFL Player of the Year award.
At the beginning of his third season, he succeeded Scott Parker as Fulham captain. Cairney is Fulham's leader on the pitch and almost everything goes through the Scotsman. He scored the winner in the final of the Championship play-off, which guaranteed that Premier League football will return to Craven Cottage.
#3 Diogo Jota
A 21 year old attacking midfielder, Diogo Jota made waves last season in the Championship with a very impressive seventeen goals, ranking him 5th in the race for the Golden Boot. Even at the relatively tender age of 21, Jota made 44 appearances and was an integral part of the Wolves team that decimated its competition to win the Championship and win promotion to the Premier League.
As a 19 year old, Jota was one of the most sought after names in Europe and his signature was secured by Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. While he didn't play at the erstwhile Calderon, Jota impressed on loan at Porto, registering 8 goals in 27 appearances as well as playing in the UEFA Champions League.
Jota has represented Portugal at the U-19, U-21 and U-23 levels and seems poised to take the Premier League by storm, despite his diminutive stature.
#2 Ryan Sessegnon
Having played in the Fulham set-up since he was 9, Ryan Sessegnon shot to prominence last season, with a few English fans even calling for his inclusion in the squad for the 2018 World Cup. While a call-up was always a long shot, Sessegnon's exciting displays and versatility as a left back, left wing back and a left winger made him a key cog in the Fulham machine that came through the play-offs to make the Premier League.
Sessegnon's breakthrough season was the 2016-17 one, which saw him impress Alan Shearer with a stunning brace against Newcastle United. His potential saw him attract interest from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and even Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig, but Sessegnon stayed at Fulham and it has certainly worked out.
In their march to promotion, Sessegnon won an outstanding 5 individual awards including the Championship Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season. He also became the first player outside of the top-tier, to be nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, a truly outstanding achievement.
His offensive playing style saw him register 15 goals in the Championship last season and is a huge hope going forwards for Fulham and even England as a whole.
#1 Ruben Neves
Arguably the inspiration for this article, Ruben Neves was one of the hottest prospects in world football when he surprised quite a few by moving to the English second tier, thanks largely to the influence of one, Jorge Mendes.
As a youngster playing for Porto, Neves established himself as a talent to watch out for, breaking a series of records including becoming Porto's youngest league goalscorer, youngest Portuguese debutant in the Champions League and the youngest-ever captain of a Champions League team.
Since his move to Wolves for a club and league record fee, Neves has continued to rise in the eyes of many. All six of his goals in the Championship came from outside the box as he made the team of the season and he was named as the club's Player of the Season.
If Wolves are to stay up, they will surely be relying heavily on their defensive midfield lynchpin in Ruben Neves.
