#2 Charlie Austin
Rejected by Reading when he was just 14 years of age, Charlie Austin had to fight tooth and nail to get his chance at stardom in the upper echelons of English football.
In the years that followed, he spent time moonlighting as a bricklayer while he honed his craft with lower league side Poole Town, at one point scoring a gob-smacking 46 goals in 46 games.
It was this goal rush that earned him the attentions of some bigger clubs. An 18-goal season with Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League has been a highlight of his since, as well as becoming a prominent attacking force with Southampton.
His work to become an accomplished figure where he was once a nobody deserves some huge praise – he’s even earned call-ups to the England senior international team and despite recently picking up a four-month shoulder injury, the evidence of his resilience proves he will be back stronger than ever in the second half of the season.
