10 Key Players To Watch In The Premier League This Season

8. Charlie Austin

There aren€™t many €˜Roy of the Rovers€™ rags-to-riches fairytales left in modern day football with the emergence of football academies, plush agents and youngsters tied down to lucrative contracts at a young age, but despite their sky-high ambitions and bags of cash, Queens Park Rangers€™ star player was working on a building site in Basingstoke five years ago. It has been an extraordinary rise for the former brick-layer, as he readies himself for his Premier League bow, having established himself as one of the prolific strikers in the Championship. In November 2012, Charlie Austin was breaking records at Burnley, having surpassed the 20 goal barrier €“ on a par with the half-decent Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Having been discovered playing for local side Poole Town in the Wessex Premier League in 2010 by League One€™s Swindon Town, he notched 37 goals in 65 appearances, before earning himself the dream move to the Championship. 41 league goals in two seasons later and Austin was signing on the dotted line for the most lavish club in the second tier of English football, for a fee believed to be in the region of £4 million. With QPR not exactly stacked with competition in the goal-scoring department, a lot of the burden with fall on the former Burnley hitman. If he can keep up his Championship goal-scoring exploits, the fairytale story might still have legs yet.

''The step up is huge. It is not easy and strikers will always find it difficult initially. But Charlie is a great player and showed that in the Championship last season. I hope Harry will give him his chance, rather than spending money on a big name striker. Charlie is 25, fresh and wants to prove himself at the top level. He has not had the opportunity yet, so he deserves his chance. By giving him the opportunity, I really feel he coud go and score 15 goals this season.€™€™ €“ Former QPR winger Ian Morgan, 2014.