Chelsea alumni dominate ridiculous XI of former Championship players now worth £750m | OneFootball

While also being one of the most entertaining leagues in the world, the Championship has long proven to be a great proving ground for future world talents.

Reading, Blackburn and Leicester can all boast former players that are currently amongst the very best players in the world.

So with that in mind, here’s an XI of current stars who once played in England’s second division.

GK: David Raya It’s been a good few years since fans at Ewood Park can claim to have seen the best players in the world but current Arsenal keeper Raya got his first taste of English football at Blackburn.

He was identified as a youth talent, joining in 2012 and made his first-team debut in 2014.

In 2019, he was picked up by Brentford before his eventual move to the Gunners in 2024, where he has gone on to become one of the best keepers in the world.

RB: Reece James The entirety of James’ playing career comes from a small section of London, aside from the 2018/19 season when he spent a year on loan at Wigan.

He was only 18 at the time but played in all but one Championship game for Paul Cook’s side.

CB: Marc Guehi Having failed to break through at Chelsea, Guehi joined Swansea in search of first-team football.

He made 52 appearances over the course of a season and a half and while it did not give him a second chance at Chelsea, it convinced Crystal Palace to sign him for £18m.

CB: Levi Colwill Having joined Chelsea as a nine-year-old, Colwill was loaned out in 2019 to Championship Huddersfield.

He made 29 appearances before continuing his progression with a loan to Premier League side Brighton.

LB: Ian Maatsen Completing a back four with Chelsea experience is Maatsen who went on a number of loans while still contracted to the West London club.

The first was at Charlton in the 2020/21 season before spending the following year at Coventry.

His final experience of the Championship came with Burnley where he was named as left back in the team of the year.

CM: Morgan Rogers Future £117 million man Rogers actually came up through the West Brom academy but never played a league game for the Baggies.

He was instead poached by City in 2019 who loaned him to Lincoln for the second half of the 2021 season.

Rogers then went to Bournemouth for the 2021/22 season, marking his first Championship experience, before another stint with Blackpool in the second half of 2023.

Having not been able to get a good run of games for any of his clubs, he was let go by City who allowed him to join Middlesbrough.

A year in the North East and Villa bought him for £8m.

CM: Jude Bellingham Birmingham were roundly laughed at when they decided to retire Bellingham’s number following his move to Dortmund but it did make his stint in the Midlands stick in the mind.

He is a Brummie boy and joined Birmingham’s youth academy in 2010 before making his first team debut in 2019.

He actually only played a season for the Blues, making the decision to retire his number questionable, before moving to Germany for £25m.

MORE FROM F365

CM: Alex Scott Highly-rated midfielder Scott came through the Bristol City academy and played two full seasons of Championship football for the Robins.

The first came in the 2021/22 season where he got six goal involvements in his 38 matches. In 2023, he made his move to Bournemouth for a Bristol City record fee of £25m.

RW: Michael Olise Five years ago, Olise was playing for Reading. Now he’s worth £150m.

The winger’s rise has been remarkably quick as he went from Reading to Palace to Munich in no time at all.

Born in Hammersmith, the declared Frenchman was part of Reading’s youth academy having previously been with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.

He got into the first team in 2019 and was signed by Palace in the 2021 season for £8m.

ST: Harry Kane The England captain has two Championship stints on his record as well as a season down in League One.

In 2010/11, he joined Leyton Orient when he was 17 and he moved across London to play for Millwall the following year.

He then spent some time on loan at Norwich who were in the Premier League at the time, before joining Leicester in the 2012/13 season.

The Foxes reached the playoffs that year but lost in the semi-final to Watford, a game which featured that Deeney goal.

LW: Anthony Gordon Gordon’s Championship experience was brief as he played just 11 games with Preston back in the 2020/21 season.