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Who are the next stars from the Championship?

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The Championship in recent years has become a goldmine for Premier League clubs looking to bolster their squads in the transfer window.

Ollie Watkins, James Maddison, Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Jarrod Bowen are just some examples of players who have made the step up and been successes at the top level.

You also have the likes of Jude Bellingham and Arnaut Danjuma who have gone abroad from the Championship and turned into stars.

With the summer transfer window fast approaching, top clubs will no doubt be casting their eyes back to English football’s second division in search of more bargains.

If we look at the data from this season – excluding Fulham and Bournemouth players as they have already been promoted – these are some of the standout players who could soon become household names.

The Best Championship Attackers

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Aleksander Mitrovic has broken every record imaginable this season for Fulham, but there have been plenty of other impressive attackers in the Championship this year.

If you just want pure goals, Ben Brereton Diaz is your man.

The Blackburn striker seemed to transform when he added Diaz to his name due to his Chilean heritage, and he now cannot stop scoring.

With 22 goals in just 34 starts this season, he will certainly be attracting interest from Premier League clubs.

If your team needs the league’s top creator, though, you will have to look a bit further down the table.

John Swift, the Reading forward, has the most assists with 13. Factor in that he has also scored 10 goals, and is playing for a poor Reading side, and he looks like a potential bargain.

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However, the player with the most overall output (goals + assists) may come as a surprise to frequent watchers of the Premier League.

Andreas Weimann played 113 times in the Premier League for Aston Villa but now finds himself at Bristol City.

The Austrian has had arguably the best season of his career, with 22 goals and 10 assists making him the divisions most effective attacker bar the top two teams.

He is still only 30 years old so it’s possible some bigger clubs may think he’s earned another try at the top level.

There are a few honourable mentions who have racked up impressive numbers and are shoo ins to move to the Premier League in the near future.

First off is Antoine Semenyo – the Bristol City forward is only 22 years old but has racked up 0.84 goals and assists per 90 minutes this season. If you take Mitrovic out of the equation that’s the best in the league by a distance.

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Joël Piroe is another young forward whose numbers are impressive with 22 goals and six assists, both attackers will be attracting interest from big clubs.

Finally, Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest is a name you will hear a lot about soon.  The 20-year-old has 16 goals and 10 assists this season.

This chart displays these standout attackers, who are labelled, along with the next best in the division.

 

 

The Best Championship Midfielders

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If you want your team to dominate the midfield battle, then you need midfielders who can win the ball back frequently.

The player with the most successful tackles in the league this season is George Honeyman, the 27-year-old Hull midfielder has completed 63.

But if you wanted a younger player for your squad, the third best tackler in the league with 59 tackles is 24-year-old Lewis Travis from Blackburn. Both players guarantee you a lot of duels won in the middle.

N’Golo Kante has long been the gold standard for making interceptions, and he is the main reason Chelsea have been so successful in the last five years.

For clubs hoping to find the Championship equivalent, look no further than Michal Helik. The Barnsley has made 96 interceptions this season, comfortably the most in the league.

 

Finally, something all top midfielders can do nowadays is buy cheap freekicks in order to relieve pressure on their side.

The best at this unique skill in the Championship is Callum O’Hare of Coventry City, who has been fouled 104 times this season!

To put this into perspective, this would be the second highest in the Premier League but still some way behind the world’s best freekick winner Wilfred Zaha who has won 115 fouls this season.

The Best Championship Goalkeepers

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Leading the way in the clean sheet race is Wes Foderingham, Sheffield United goalkeeper, with 18 clean sheets in just 32 appearances.

Lee Nicholls, Huddersfield goalkeeper, also has 18 clean sheets but he played 43 matches.

However, clean sheets are often reliant on the defence a goalkeeper has in front of them.

If we look at save percentage instead, the number one goalkeeper in the league is Nathan Baxter from Hull City with 82.3% with Nottingham Forest’s Brice Samba in second.

Notably, Nicholls is third by this metric too with a save percentage of 78.3%. So maybe if your club needs a new goalkeeper Nicholls is your man.

Penalty Specialists

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 Having a goalkeeper who can save penalties is a massive benefit to any team, as any Chelsea fan could confirm after watching Kepa Arrizabalaga save zero out of 11 against Liverpool.

Nottingham Forest’s Samba may have saved three penalties against Sheffield United in the playoffs, but he did not lead the way in the regular season.

Three goalkeepers in the Championship have saved two penalties this season: Daniel Bentley. Bradley Collins and Foderingham. Foderingham stands out though as he saved two from only three faced.

If saving penalties is something you want in your goalkeeper, best to steer clear of Coventry City’s Simon Moore who has failed to save any from five attempts.

Data all courtesy of FBref

Author

  • Charlie Pizey

    Charlie is a British sports journalist who follows a wide range of sports but specialises in all things football. He previously wrote for the Pride of London and hosted a podcast during his time as a student at the University of Bristol.