"He's had a phenomenal season and he's got momentum. Both him and Solanke offer a lot of mobility in behind. Ivan Toney is also an excellent player, but I'm not sure he's been scoring the goals of late that would make him the outstanding contender. Watkins has played very well in that Villa team and I think that with his movement, he will challenge defenders more," Deane elaborates, while pouring praise on Harry Kane.
"The way Harry Kane has adopted his game has been quite phenomenal, really. It shows the kind of attention to detail that he has. I remember a few years ago when people were talking, and I was one of them, that he was going too deep. But I think what he's managed to do now is he's learnt when and how to do it. And he's still scoring a lot of goals. He's still the main man," says Deane, who this week witnessed his former club West Ham sign a replacement for David Moyes.
"It's probably come to a natural end. He's had a good run there and done a good job. It's probably the right thing for the club to do. The fans have become disillusioned with some of the results they've had. I played down at West Ham and they're very proud fans.
"They probably feel that after winning that European trophy, they were going to be kicking on and perhaps do what Aston Villa are doing. Instead, they're getting beaten 5-0 by Chelsea and 5-2 by Palace," says Deane, who is not convinced Julen Lopetegui is a good fit.
"He did a good job at Wolves and then he kind of downed tools. When you do that, he's put himself under a lot of pressure to begin with now. He's been given an opportunity, and put it this way, if he does a bad job there, I think that'll be him done with this country. He has everything to prove now," Deane continues while correctly pointing out, this is a manager once deemed good enough to coach both the Spanish national side as well as Real Madrid. But what next for David Moyes?
"I'm not sure, because football's a small community and people throw stigma around willy-nilly. It's like; 'David Moyes plays this brand of football'. Well, David Moyes is a good manager and the ambition of some clubs is in dreamland.
"Sometimes when I hear people talking about, it's time for whoever to go, I'm thinking, who are you going to bring in on that level? There are very few elite managers, you know. But Moyes is a steady manager. He's not going to come in and play the kind of football Arteta's playing, but he'll galvanize a squad and get results. And sometimes that's a good job!"
Speaking of doing a good job; Daniel Farke has received a lot of praise for turning things around at Leeds United this season. Instead of finishing in the top two, dwindling form has thrown them into the playoffs, though, with their former striker worrying about their goalscoring abilities.
"I went to see them against Stoke and a cross that came in that one of the forwards headed 10 feet over the bar, and I thought this could be a problem. If there aren't different ways of scoring, you're going to struggle because people will work you out pretty quickly.
"Summerville's a very good player but when he gets on the ball, they pack the area across the box now because they know he wants to come in and curl it round. There's not been enough variety, in my opinion. When Ipswich went and got Kieffer Moore I thought, 'that's the guy Leeds needed'. Just to offer a different option up front. I don't think Leeds know how to win ugly. That's the problem."
- Brian Deane was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of Freebets.com