The Championship season is nearing its conclusion and for the teams who miss out on the playoffs or automatic promotion, there will be a sense of anxiety as the Premier League’s PSR rules could lead to top-flight clubs looking for bargains in the second tier of English Football.
Currently, the Championship is full of talent, highlighted by being the former home of several star players including Jude Bellingham and Viktor Gyokeres who have both gone on to excel further since leaving the second tier.
Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich and Southampton’s players are excluded as two of the four teams will be automatically promoted in May ensuring that their star players are safe ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
Therefore, let’s take a look at the five players I have selected…
Gabriel Sara
The Canaries pulled off a coup in the summer of 2022 when signing Sara for a reported £11 million from Brazilian side Sao Paulo. The midfielder had been a regular with his former side and at just 23 at the time of the move, had plenty of room to realise his full potential.
Fast forward to the current season and he has been involved in 30% of his side’s 76 goals from the middle of the pitch with 12 goals and 11 assists in league action thus far. The Brazilian is the key player in Norwich’s push to finish in a play-off place and has almost certainly proven he is ready to display his talent on a bigger stage.
There are very few weaknesses in his game but it is in forward areas where he is at his most devastating. A player who is capable of playing in either of the six, eight or ten roles will be an attractive proposition for top-level sides that require versatility in the middle positions.
Sammie Szmodics
The Republic of Ireland international has EFL fans running out of superlatives to assess his goalscoring exploits. It is almost inevitable that he will collect the Golden Boot as top scorer and that is all the more impressive when you consider that Rovers sit five points off the bottom three at the time of writing. His 24 goals have him four clear of his nearest challenger.
The 28-year-old has become the player he is today the hard way, proving his scoring credentials in League One and Two with Peterborough and Colchester respectively.
Blackburn may be looking to cash in and if Szmodics can polish up areas of his all-round game he could be the kind of poacher that many Premier League sides are currently lacking.
Jacob Greaves
The defender’s inclusion in this list may come as a surprise but he deserves to be recognised off the back of his commanding displays at the heart of the Hull City defence.
The 23-year-old has been an almost ever-present for the Tigers who have been a credit to the division for some of their play this season.
Greaves has been commanding in the air, winning on average 4.2 aerial duels per game, leaving him third out of all Championship defenders who have made more than 20 appearances per Whoscored’s stats. He has been one of the team’s better players over the past three seasons in the Championship but has elevated his game in recent times.
His confidence on the ball will be seen as another key attribute if he is to get a move this summer.
Morgan Whittaker
After a successful loan spell at Plymouth from Swansea in 2022/23 it was decided to arrange a permanent transfer in July 2o23. Whittaker has repaid that faith with an exceptional showing, scoring 19 league goals with eight assists to earn him a place in the Championship team of the season for his displays from the right-wing role.
The 23-year-old is capable of playing in a central position and has captained his side on occasion, helping the newly promoted team stay just above the relegation zone.
The best of his displays culminated in a hat-trick in a convincing 6-2 win over Norwich in September. His four-year deal was signed just last summer, meaning it will take a significant profit for Argyle to sell, if they can avoid being relegated at the first time of asking.
Jaden Philogene
It was described as ‘one of the Championship’s most eye-catching signings of the summer’ by Barry Cooper of the Hull Daily Mail and what an accurate description that has turned out to be.
The deal was reported by the same source to have been for around £5 million and 17 goal involvements later, the winger has become a key player for the Tigers, who have a second player nominated in this list.
Competition for places is fierce in the forward areas at Hull but Jaden’s versatility ensures that he stands out from the rest. Three goals from his last three appearances have kept the team in the hunt for that final play-off place and Aston Villa will be wondering why they let such a talented player depart after just three minutes of Premier League action at the start of the season.
After making his England under-21 debut in October he has three goals and two assists from his four underage caps and would be worth at least treble what Hull paid for him last summer. His work rate would be highly regarded as a wide player, with many such players failing in that duty in the top flight.
Countless other players could and maybe should have been included on this list. Honourable mentions go to Ellis Simms and Haji Wright of Coventry, Jack Clarke of Sunderland and Jimmy Dunne of Queens Park Rangers.
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