30. Ross Stewart
Club: Sunderland
Position: Forward
Age: 26
Blessed with two great nicknames (‘Loch Ness Drogba’ and ‘Highland Haaland’), Stewart was cursed with two cruel injuries, breaking up his 10 goals and three assists from just 13 league games, then ending his season in January.
DID YOU KNOW? He averaged a Championship-best 0.86 goals per 90 minutes this campaign.
29. Teemu Pukki
Club: Norwich City
Position: Forward
Age: 33
One word defines the fabulous Finn in this division: inevitable. At 33, Pukki remains a menace to defenders with his one-touch shooting and eye for an open team-mate. In a season he’d call disappointing, he still offered 17 goals and assists before March.
HE SAID “I’ve always felt loved at Norwich.” Will he be kept on?
28. Carlton Morris
Club: Luton Town
Position: Forward
Age: 27
Simultaneously a club-record signing and an absolute bargain at around £2m, Morris arrived from relegated Barnsley to be the perfect striker for Luton’s renewed play-off charge: strong, mobile and newly prolific. He’d been with Norwich aged 11 to 25 but played for them just once due to endless loans away; now settled, he’s oozing confidence.
27. Conor Hourihane
Club: Derby County
Position: Midfielder
Age: 32
HE TOLD FFT "I turned 32 in February, and I’ve been really fortunate to play for some big clubs in my career. Before the season began, I was asking myself: ‘What would excite me in my next move?’ Derby came along and I viewed it as a great opportunity to help a huge club to rebuild and get back to where they belong. It ticked every box."
26. Michael Cooper
Club: Plymouth Argyle
Position: Goalkeeper
Age: 23
Rarely does a terrific goalkeeper play 120 League One games before being poached. If Argyle pull off an incredible promotion, their match-winning local hero will be why; if they don’t, his February injury will be why not.
DID YOU KNOW? He’d prevented a league-high 6.8 goals (per xG) before his untimely knee knack.
25. Marcelino Nunez
Club: Norwich City
Position: Midfielder
Age: 23
The scuttling schemer’s strong start faded, after 12 months of non-stop football due to Chile’s calendar. February’s Goal of the Season contender against Birmingham helped to reignite his first campaign in England.
DID YOU KNOW? Nunez made his Championship debut six days after playing in Chile, then played for Norwich five times in 14 days.
24. Aaron Collins
Club: Bristol Rovers
Position: Forward
Age: 25
Step up? What step up? After representing six teams in League Two, Collins has been effortlessly brilliant in his first stab at League One – quick, creative and clinical.
DID YOU KNOW? The Welshman reached ‘the double double’ (10 goals, 10 assists) on January 1. Two months later, no one else in the whole EFL had managed it.
23. Jed Wallace
Club: West Bromwich Albion
Position: Forward
Age 29
The legendary Lion became a Baggie and emerged with credit from Steve Bruce’s lackadaisical reign before thriving for Carlos Corberan. Loved for his industry, leadership and off-pitch work, Wallace has real quality as well.
HIGHLIGHT A millimetre-perfect cross, while sprinting, for Daryl Dike’s clincher at Sunderland.
22. Dan Barlaser
Club: Middlesbrough
Position: Midfielder
Age: 26
Returning to his native North East in January after his Rotherham performances wowed Boro, the ‘Geordie Pirlo’ dictates the pace of a game with an elan that few in the Championship can match.
HIGHLIGHT A first-half hat-trick of assists, with two laser-guided passes from deep, in the Millers’ 4-0 August mauling of Reading.
21. Jonson Clarke-Harris
Club: Peterborough United
Position: Forward
Age: 28
Though Peterborough haven’t matched high expectations, their captain is clinical in open play and deadly from 12 yards (penalties make up a quarter of his career tally for the Posh). He’s set for a second League One Golden Boot – one for each foot.
DID YOU KNOW? Call him ‘The Orthodontist’, because he has five braces this season already.
