Amazing XI of stars playing in Championship in 2019 ‘would challenge for title’ now with Bellingham and World Cup winner
JUDE BELLINGHAM and World Cup-winner Emi Martinez were playing in the Championship in 2019 along with a host of other stars.
Some were on loan while Bellingham was enjoying his first year as a professional at Birmingham.
The Real Madrid man is the superstar in a line-up from that season, with fans suggesting the side of Championship all-stars would challenge for the Premier League title if they were a team today.
Nine out of 11 players in the team have gone on to represent their country while Martinez, who was on loan at Reading from Arsenal in 2019, won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina.
Rico Henry is the only other player in the squad not to have represented England, but he has impressed since arriving in the Premier League with Brentford.
He is joined on the left flank by £100million man Jack Grealish, who was a talisman for Aston Villa in 2019.
Now the Villa faithful have a new hero – Ollie Watkins – who also played for Brentford that season.
He is joined in attack by Jarrod Bowen, who scored 52 goals in 124 games for Hull before leaving in 2020.
There are also four players with Chelsea links in the side – Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount.
They were all on loan from the Blues and while Tomori and Mount have since departed on permanent deals, James is Chelsea captain.
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Ben White also features in the line-up while his former Leeds team-mate Kalvin-Phillips is unfortunate to miss out.
There are several notable absentees with the 2019 Championship also featuring the likes of Harvey Barnes, John McGinn, David Raya, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Dean Henderson.
Fans were in awe of the team and many claimed it could challenge for the title if they played together now.
One said: “As a manager if you didn’t get this team in the top 4 you’d have underperformed.”
Another added: “That team could compete for the title tbf if City weren’t around.”
A third wrote: “With Jude [Bellingham] in the team they should be comfortably top four.”