Smash hit

9. Emile Heskey

Expected to be hotly pursued in January, yet how many goals has the forward scored in 2008? Six. But his value to England and Wigan as a big bloke who distracts defenders and wins headers is evident - so that 2007 international recall was not a freak moment of Steve McClaren madness after all.

8 James Milner

"He's the future, my future," Capello said this week of the most-capped player in England under-21s history, so expect the Villa winger to make his first international appearance before long - reward for some lively displays this year, though he may only be England's fifth-choice right winger after Walcott, Wright-Phillips, Bentley and Beckham.

7. Jimmy Bullard

Football’s favourite fisherman and cheeky chappie even earnt a call-up to the England squad this season, though a man with the sartorial elegance of Fabio Capello is very unlikely to make someone with hair like Bullard’s a mainstay of the midfield.

6. Robert Green

Given David James’ erratic nature and the generally average performances of most his compatriots you could make a case for the West Ham United man being the best English goalkeeper of 2008. Unless you were Fabio Capello.

5. Gabriel Agbonlahor

His remarkable off-field adventures, as detailed in the Sunday tabloids, did not distract the Aston Villa forward this year. He won his first England cap thanks to some devastating examples of the pacy striker’s art.

4. Matthew Upson

Arsene Wenger, make a mistake? Selling Upson certainly looks like one. That said, the defender is far more accomplished – and less injury-prone – than he was in 2003 when Arsenal let him go. Rightly called into the England squad by Capello.

3. Theo Walcott

Underwhelming for the first half of 2008, but all that was forgotten as the teenager devastated Croatia in September with a brilliant hat-trick. Remains inconsistent, and presently injured, but this was the year that Walcott proved himself as a bona fide star.

2. Ashley Young

“World-class,” his manager called him after the winger-cum-forward scored twice against Everton. And now, with four England caps to his name, the 23-year-old is well on the way to proving Martin O’Neill right.

1. Gareth Barry

For a player who spent nearly four years out of the international reckoning between 2003 and 2007, the Aston Villa midfield player is suddenly indispensable: he appeared in all ten of England’s games under Fabio Capello. And rightly so, as he is one of the Premier League’s best players, eh, Rafa?