With the current campaign entering its final straight, Playmaker has stepped into the minefield of public opinion and ranked its top 72 players from across the EFL.
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.
Up next, League One's assist king Leif Davis!
When Junior Firpo picked up an injury in pre-season, it was Leif Davis who seemed to be the perfect solution for Leeds United's vacant left-back position.
The only recognised left-back that travelled with Leeds to Australia, Davis featured for the Whites in pre-season, but was still allowed to join League One Ipswich on a permanent deal.
If Davis were disappointed at not making the grade at Elland Road, he certainly didn't show it and a fantastic promotion season with the Tractor Boys has underlined his talent and potential.
The 23-year-old played in 43 of Ipswich’s 46 League games and has been simply outstanding for Kieran McKenna's side, who scored the most goals (101!) of any team across 'The 92' this season and also registered an incredibly impressive goal difference of +66.
With a lovely left foot and given license to bomb on and create problems, Davis did just that and finished the regular season as League One's assist king, with 14 assists to his name. Across 'The 92', only Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne (16), Salford City's Elliot Watt (15) and Carlisle's Owen Moxon (15) recorded more.
The loanee's sheer attacking output was simply staggering for a defender and, in addition to scoring three goals, Davis completed more key passes (132) than any player in the top for tiers in 2022/23.
As Ipswich's impressive defensive record would suggest, Davis was solid going the other way too. In fact, he was the Tractor Boys' top performer in terms of interceptions made (55) this season, and only behind captain Sam Morsy (94) for most tackles won (56).
It was absolutely no surprise that Davis was included in the League One 'Team of the Season' and he was perhaps unfortunate not to be nominated for the division's Player of the Season award, won by Bristol Rovers' Aaron Collins.
Versatile, great in attack, strong in defence - Davis has had a belter of season and is one to watch next season - when he and Ipswich will be looking to do far more than make up the numbers.
14: Leif Davis 15: Carlton Morris 16: Carl Piergianni 17: Zian Flemming
18: Jesurun Rak-Sakyi 19: Alex Scott 20: Oliver Norwood 21: Elliot Watt
22: David McGoldrick 23: Ian Maatsen 24: Michael Cooper
25: Bali Mumba 26: Tom Lockyer 27: Ryan Giles 28: Colby Bishop
29: Christian Walton 30: Amad Diallo 31: Mads Andersen 32: Sam Morsy
33: Jack Clarke 34: Eiran Cashin 35: Alfie May 36: Wes Burns 37: Conor Bradley
38: Anel Ahmedhodžić 39: Shaun Rooney 40: Ben Whitfield 41: Adam Phillips
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
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NameLeif Davis Born/Age2000-01-12(24 -yrs-old) Nationality England PositionDefender (Left Back) | |
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