Jon Flanagan (Liverpool)
Jon Flanagan has been one of the surprises of the season.
The 21 year-old has taken advantage of injury suffered by Anfield team-mates Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique and uselessness of Aly Cissokho to stake a claim for a place in the Liverpool back line.
Flanagan has made an average of 3.2 tackles, 1.4 interceptions and 3.4 clearances per Premier League game this season, and has greatly impressed Brendan Rodgers.
“Jon has that potential,” Rodgers said to the Liverpool Echo upon helping the Reds defeat Arsenal 5-1 earlier this month.
“He has all the qualities to play in that position for England.
“For a young player like Jon to be producing the performances he has done takes some doing.
“The quality he’s playing at, especially in big games, has been outstanding. The key for Jon is making sure he doesn’t think he has cracked it which he has probably learned from last time.
“He has now taken his opportunity and we see that hunger. I have been pleasantly surprised by how tactically good he is.
“He was up against (Santi) Cazorla at the weekend – a player who jumps inside and we asked Jon to make sure he went inside at the right moments.
“If he can play at that level here in those types of games then he can do it at international level for sure.”