'Playmaker's EFL 72': #42 Joël Piroe

With the current campaign entering its final straight, Playmaker has kicked for home and ranked the top 72 players from across the EFL this season. 

Those who followed 'The Playmaker 72' last season know the drill: this is less a countdown of the 'best' footballers across the EFL, more a celebration of those players who have lit up the Championship, League One and League Two throughout 2022/23.

To once again paraphrase the great Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, these are just, like, our opinions, man - and we will do our utmost to back up them up with facts, stats and analysis.

Is it even allowed to score 18 goals in a season and still be disappointed?

Number 42: Joël Piroe (Swansea City)

The fact that Joel Piroe is disappointed with scoring 18 Championship goals this season says a lot. 

Signed by Swansea from PSV Eindhoven ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, the Dutchman scored 22 goals and supplied six assists for the Welsh side last term and - with two games to play - he looks unlikely to better that tally this term. 

They have seen a lot of the ball, averaging 64% possession, but Swansea have lacked consistency this season and it's fair to say a porous defence put paid to their hopes of challenging for a play-spot. 

The spearhead of the fourth best attack in the second tier, Piroe and Swansea may have endured ultimately disappointing seasons, but - if you zoom out - the Dutchman's numbers are incredibly impressive. And there's one stat in particular that stands out. 

Check this out: only two players have scored more league goals across the Premier League and the Championship since 2021/22 than Joel Piroe (40). The two hotshots in question are Aleksandar Mitrovic (54) and Harry Kane (41) - and trailing them is certainly no embarrassment!

Flying at the moment, with five goals in his last six games, Piroe has certainly rediscovered his spark towards the end of the season - and his manager Russell Martin is full of praise for him. 

“As a footballer, he is adaptable and intelligent. He is technically really gifted with both feet and good movement," the Swansea boss told the club website last month.

“I am just so pleased for him, because he has been disappointed himself with how things have gone for him in spells this season, and his output in terms of goals.

“But it shows his ability, the quality he possesses and it tells you how good he is that he can be disappointed when he has 17 (now 18) goals this season.”

One notable feature of Piroe's game is his willingness to get his shots off. He has taken more shots (136) and fired more of them on target (61) than any player in the Championship this season - the theory that he hasn't quite had the rub of the green in 2022/23 given added traction by the fact he has hit the woodwork more times (5) than any player in the division. 

By his own high standards this season may have underwhelmed, but Piroe still deserves a spot in our 'Playmaker 72'. With his contract running down, and Crystal Palace and Burnley reportedly interested, it appears doubtful that he'll still be in the EFL next season. 

Playmaker's EFL 72...the countdown

42: Joel Piroe 43: Kristian Dennis 44: Liam Palmer 45: Idris El Mizouni 46: Taylor Harwood-Bellis

47: Ricardo Santos 48: João Pedro 49: Conor Hourihane 50: Anass Zaroury

51: Morgan Whittaker 52: James Trafford 53: Sam Nombe 54: Theo Archibald 

55: Hayden Hackney 56: Gabriel Sara 57: Gustavo Hamer 58: Miles Leaburn 

59: Jacob Greaves 60: Dion Charles 61: John Swift 62: Luca Connell 63: Jerry Yates

64: Dan Sweeney 65: Tom Ince 66: Dan Kemp 67: Finn Azaz 68: Dan Agyei 

69: Freddie Woodman 70: Will Collar 71: Anis Mehmeti 72: Ibou Touray