Although there's debate whether the English soccer first division - otherwise known as the Premiership - is the best in the world there's no doubt that it is the richest. Earning hundreds of millions in TV revenue a year, the Premiership has become the most exciting league to watch thanks in part to the slew of foreign stars who play there.

It's no coincidence that the current UEFA Champions League winner is Manchester United (they faced fellow Premiership rival Chelsea in this year's final), the winning goal-scorer for Euro 2008 Fernando Torres plays for Liverpool while the assist for his goal came from Cesc Fabregas who plies his trade at the North London club Arsenal. And right now the best player in the world - at least according to Real Madrid who were willing to fork out a record-breaking 100 million euros but ultimately failed in their attempt to sign him - wears the No. 7 shirt for Manchester United, the Portugese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Among all these stars will feature three Mexican talents this year which is a record in itself. The first ever Mexican to play in the Premiership was the striker Jared Borgetti who was signed by Bolton Wanderers in the 2005/6 season. Borgetti, who is the highest goal-scorer ever for Mexico's national team, was at the latter end of his career when he arrived at Bolton - he was 32 - and found it difficult to adapt to the high tempo of the English game. However, he did manage to score eight goals in 19 appearances but was nevertheless released by the club at the end of the season.

Borgetti's problem was he ventured into a much stronger league when some would say his best years were behind him. The current crop of Mexican players in the Premiership have an average age of 21 between them. All three are forwards and come with the promise of enormous potential.

Too Comfortable At Home?

Mexico has increasingly seen it's best talent go abroad which is no bad thing. While the Mexican first division is also full of foreigners and boasts incredible wealth - it is the richest league in Latin America according to the Deloitte Football Money League - it sometimes has been criticized as being too soft when it comes to world class competitive football. Pundits do point to the big fish in a little pond syndrome especially as Mexican footballers are paid so well. Therefore, it's heartening to see that the bulk of the national team all currently play in Europe and for clubs that are of a championship pedigree.

The Premiership triumvirate of Nery Castillo (Manchester City), Giovanni Dos Santos (Tottenham Hotspur) and Carlos Vela (Arsenal) will have much to prove if they are to survive the demands of the world's most successful league but they are seen as the future of the Mexican national side and come with impressive CVs.

Castillo was the first to arrive in England at the end of 2007. He was signed by City's then manager Sven Goran Eriksson who now manages the Mexican national team. All of Castillo's playing career has been outside of Mexico and he made his name with a six-year stint at Greek champions Olympiacos. A lightening fast forward with a sublime touch, Castillo turned heads when he notched up three goals in five Champions League matches in 2006/7 and finished as the second top goal-scorer for his club. After a miserable spell at the Russian side Shakhtar Donetsk, who shelled out a club record of 20 million euros for his signature, Castillo went to the unheard of lengths of paying for half of his transfer fee to move to Manchester City.

The San Luis Potosi-born player though suffered a major setback three weeks after his arrival when he broke his shoulder which left him sidelined for several months. Since his recovery, Castillo featured only sparingly for City making just eight appearances and finished the season without ever scoring. With a new manager at the helm, Castillo needs to recapture the form which brought him to Manchester City's attention in the first place and also hope Eriksson will keep faith in him for the national side's World Cup qualification campaign.

Young Hopefuls

While Castillo is still relatively young at 24, both Vela and Dos Santos are mere babies at 19 years old each yet the pair can boast a World Cup winning campaign between them. In 2005, these precocious talents were the stand out players in Mexico's successful capture of the U17 World Cup in Lima, Peru, where they beat Brazil 3-0 in a memorable final. It was Mexico's first ever victory since the tournament's inception in 1985 and turned the players into national heroes.

Vela, who finished as the tournament's top scorer, was courted by several European clubs afterwards and opted to sign with the English club Arsenal for 2.5 million pounds. However, his debut for his new side would take another three years to materialize due to English work permit restrictions for non-EU citizens which prevented him from playing in England. After loan spells at Spanish Liga teams Celta Vigo, Salamanca and Osasuna, Vela was granted a work permit this year and Arsenal's coach Arsene Wenger announced he would be included in the squad for the 2008/9 season. He's already scored some eye-catching goals in the pre-season friendlies and the British tabloid newspaper The Sun has named him as one of the 20 young players to watch out for.

It's fitting then Giovanni Dos Santos has joined North London club Tottenham Hostpur who share a century-old rivalry with Arsenal that's contested each season in the much anticipated North London Derby. Coming through the ranks in Spanish team Barcelona's youth program, Dos Santos is a versatile winger who can play on either the left or right flank. He was snapped up by Tottenham over the Summer for an initial 4.7 million pounds which can rise to 8.6 million pounds depending on appearances. It's a testament to Dos Santos' willingness to improve his career that he left Barcelona for Tottenham but choosing between languishing in the Barcelona reserves or playing first team football for Tottenham didn't seem a difficult choice to make for the young player.

As Castillo found out last year, the Premiership is a very physical league and despite all three Mexican players having experience playing in Europe, the English league can be a rude awakening to the rigors of professional football. It took Cristiano Ronaldo a couple of seasons before he found his stride in the Premiership so it will be interesting to see how quickly these young starlets adapt in the top flight.

The Premiership 2008/9 season began on August 16. Nery Castillo has since been loaned to the Spanish club Real Betis for one year with the option to make the move permanent.

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