Top 10 Championship Players in 2021-22 Season

The January transfer window is finally upon us as we enter the new year and Premier League clubs are looking out for potential bargains to boost their squads, and for them, there’s no place better than Championship where they had a taste of success in the best Championship players of all time from Kieran Trippier to Patrick Bamford.

With Bournemouth and Fulham leading the table and

’s Derby County at the bottom, there are players who are already making the wishlist of Premier League clubs or even making a return with their own club from Championship. We see former Premier League elite clubs’ players as well as we encounter some new prospects.

Shortlisting the best championship players 2021/22, the list not only contains top goal scorers but talents from different posts as they push their teams to promotion spots.

All You Need to Know About Top 10 Championship Players in 2021-22 Season

Just like every other season, there have been several notable performances from the division's top players and here we have picked up ten names who were the top 10 Championship Players in 2021-22 Season so far.

10 - Viktor Gyökeres

• Club: Coventry

• Post: Forward

• Nationality: Sweden

• Age: 23

Essential to Coventry’s great run to the league so far, we start our list of

top 10 Championship players in 2021-22 season

with their Swede gem, Viktor Gyökeres.

After an unsuccessful spell at Brighton, where he spent most of his career on loan at FC St. Pauli, Swansea City, and Coventry, the 23-year-old striker returned to

on a permanent deal on 9 July 2021, after signing a three-year contract with The Sky Blues.

Scoring 9 goals and providing two further assists, Gyokeres was essential to Coventry’s great start to the season as they are currently 4th and fighting for a straight promotion to the Premier League next season.

Gyokeres was called up by Sweden in early October after catching the eye with his outstanding start to the Championship season which saw him hit nine goals in eleven games.

“

I know a little of the history of the club,”

says the 23-year-old Sweden international, whose nine Championship goals have put the grip into Coventry’s hold on the top six.

“I wouldn’t say I know it all. We’re just trying to do out best and it’s been a good start, but we know that we’re nowhere near the end.”

9- Kyle Bartley

• Club: West Bromwich Albion

• Post: Centre-back

• Nationality: England

• Age: 30

The former Arsenal centre-back who perhaps is a perfect candidate for the

best Championship players 2021/22

is certainly among the best defenders of the league as he helped West Bromwich Albion to take their chance for an early return to the Premier League next season.

On 16 July 2018, Bartley joined Championship club

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee from Swansea City, and since then were among their best players as they gained a Premier League promotion.

The 30-year-old English defender has helped the Baggies to keep 7 clean sheets in his 16 appearances this season, as well as scoring two goals and providing an assist.

Once the current international break comes to an end, West Brom will be back in Championship action at the weekend with an away clash against Huddersfield Town next up for Valerien Ismael’s side.

If Bartley does play against Huddersfield, he will have to make sure he doesn’t pick up a yellow card in the match or else he will receive a ban as it would be his fifth of the season.

8- Max Lowe

• Club: Nottingham Forest

• Post: Full-back

• Nationality: England

• Age: 24

Currently playing for EFL Championship club Nottingham Forest on loan from Sheffield United, the 24-year-old fullback was among the

best players in Championship 2021

as he has contributed a goal and two assists this season.

He is thriving in a wing-back role deployed by Steve Cooper and appears to be enjoying his football once again. Lowe is on a season-long stint at the City Ground. On current form, the Reds would dearly love it to stay that way.

The 24-year-old seems happy at Forest and playing every week will only aid his development. The Blades have plenty of left-sided options. As a result, the best situation for all parties is for Lowe to stay at Forest.

7- Sam Gallagher

• Club: Blackburn Rovers

• Post: Forward/Winger

• Nationality: Scotland

• Age: 26

Making 14 appearances for the Rovers in the Championship, the Scot is among the top 10 Championship players in 2021-22 season.

After starting his career in Southampton and spending 6 years there, the 26-year-old striker returned

for a fee of £5.8m permanently on a four-year deal following three loan spells at Milton Keynes Dons, Blackburn, and Birmingham City.

“Gallagher’s game is based on hard work. He’s an amazing athlete Gally, for someone who is 6’4, he’s really powerful, has really good stamina levels, that’s why generally through my time here I’ve played him on the right,”

the Blackburn manager, Tony Mowbray, explained.

“I had a laugh with him that he scored with his first touch when I moved him on to the right because he wants to play down the middle and yet we made the substitution, I pushed him out to the right and moved Brereton down the middle who is a bit more technical.”

6- Shaun Hutchinson

• Club: Millwall

• Post: Centre-back

• Nationality: England

• Age: 30

Hutchinson signed for Motherwell from Wallsend Boys Club in 2007 and started his senior career at Scotland. However, after a spell at Fulham, Hutchinson signed for the Lions on 21 June 2016 following his release on a two-year deal.

Since then Shaun Hutchinson has established himself as the mainstay of the Millwall defense and a dependable senior player within the squad and a fan favorite, Winning players awards and being part of the Championship team of the Year 19/20 as many argue that he’s among the best Championship players of all time.

He is known as an uncompromising old-school defender who is strong in the air and often puts his body on the line, much to the delight of the Millwall fans.

Making 9 appearances for Millwall this season, the 30-year-old was a cornerstone for the Lions’ defense as he helped them keep three clean sheets. Currently ninth in the Championship table, the Lions are only three points away from the play-off zone.

5- Philip Billing

• Club: Bournemouth

• Post: Midfielder

• Nationality: Denmark

• Age: 25

The Denmark international who was among the Cherries’ outstanding stars during their Premier League time is once again helping them for a return to the English first tier as he’s already scored 6 goals and provided three assists during 16 appearances, helping Bournemouth top the Championship table.

Starting his career at Huddersfield Town, after performing well for both the under-18s and under-21s, he made his first-team debut for the club as a substitute in their 2–0 loss against Leicester City at the John Smith's Stadium on 26 April 2014.

On 29 July 2019, Billing signed for Premier League

on a long-term contract for a £15 million fee, being given the No. 29 jersey.

Billing scored eight goals in the Championship for the 2020–21 season also being his most prolific goal-scoring season to date, making him a perfect candidate for the Best players in Championship 2021.

As recently as last season, more combative team-mates such as Jefferson Lerma, Ben Pearson, and Lewis Cook were favored in a two-man midfield, which allowed then-manager Jonathan Woodgate to repurpose Billing as a No 10.

While this position switch unleashed Billing’s attacking potential (he scored seven goals and provided four assists in the final 15 league games of 2020-21), it only served to solidify the notion that he doesn’t have the necessary defensive steel to protect his defenders when playing in a deeper role.

4- John Swift

• Club: Reading

• Post: Midfielder

• Nationality: England

• Age: 26

Among the best Championship players 2021/22 is the former Chelsea player, John Swift.

Starting his career with the Blues, Swift had loan spells at Rotherham United, Swindon Town, and Brentford before signing a three-year contract with Reading on 14 July 2016. On 27 March 2017, Swift was nominated for the EFL Young Player of the Year award along with Ryan Ledson and Ollie Watkins.

Continuing his great form, Swift has scored 8 goals and provided 7 assists in the 17 Championship appearances he made this season.

The Midfielder is strongly linked with a January move to Leeds United and Burnley. Speaking in February 2020 Bielsa said:

“[John] Swift is a great player.

“I value him a lot. He is a player who appears suddenly in attack and the same in transition between defence and attack. But he’s especially good when he passes from the defence to the attack.”

However, his outstanding performances couldn’t help

be any place better in the table than the 19th position.

3- Dominic Solanke

• Club: Bournemouth

• Post: Striker

• Nationality: England

• Age: 24

The former Chelsea and Liverpool forward, who joined Bournemouth on a £19.08m deal in 2019, is the Cherries best player of the season so far as he has scored 13 goals and provided an assist in 17 appearances.

Although after joining the Cherries he initially struggled at the Cherries, taking 18 months to register his first goal, following their relegation to the Championship

has stepped up to be the team's talisman.

He notched 15 goals last season as Bournemouth fell short at the play-off semi-final stage. This term he has already scored 13 times, with Scott Parker's side sitting pretty at the top of the league - eight points clear of third-placed West Brom and having tasted defeat just once this season, being among the

top 10 Championship players in 2021-22 season

.

On his time at Liverpool, Solanke recently said:

“I enjoyed my time (at Liverpool) and I learned a lot.

"I was around some really nice people and top players. I wouldn’t say I’ve got any regrets. I just wanted to go out and play.

“I want to get back to the Premier League and prove that I can be a regular goalscorer there. That’s the main thing I want to achieve right now. My confidence is a lot different to how it was back then.”

2- Harry Wilson

• Club: Fulham

• Post: Winger

• Nationality: Wales

• Age: 24

Another former

player in the list of the best players in Championship 2021 is Fulham’s summer bargain, Harry Wilson, who signed for the London club for a £12.60m fee last summer.

Contributing 5 goals and 6 assists in his 14 Championship appearances, the Welshman was essential to Fulham’s hopeful start of the season as they are currently second in the Championship table and pushing for automatic promotion.

Number two in our list of the

top 10 Championship players in 2021-22 season

is a regular for his national side as well. Making 6 appearances for Wales in their World Cup qualifiers, the 24-year-old winger has made 3 assists and scored a goal.

In order to get the very best from Wilson, he has been deployed in an attacking position that gives him multiple options in a fast-paced attack. Wilson has been at the centre of many attacking situations. His involvement in attacking situations has made him a crucial player for Fulham. To lead on from the analysis of his positional awareness in attacking positions, Wilson’s goal-scoring abilities combine well with such technical awareness.

Wilson said previously on the reason he had to leave Liverpool and why that gives him an extra encouragement for his career: 

“Then we played Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley and I was 19th man. The disappointment of that really hit me.  I felt that was my chance, and it had gone. I thought I’d done all I could, and I think that was when I started to accept that I’d have to leave.”

1-    Aleksandar Mitrovic

• Club: Fulham

• Post: Striker

• Nationality: Serbia

• Age: 27

Topping our list of top 10 Championship players in 2021-22 season,

is on course to smash the Championship's goalscoring record to smithereens as he has already scored 20 goals in 17 appearances for Fulham.

After an unsuccessful spell at Newcastle United, the Serbian finally found his form in Fulham. Mitrovic can easily end up as one of the

best Championship players of all time

if his form is extrapolated throughout the season, he could even be threatening the 50-goal mark. The current goal record since the second tier became the Championship belongs to Brentford's Ivan Toney, who hit 31 last term as the Bees sealed promotion to the Premier League.

"

I just keep going game-by-game,"

Mitrovic said.

"I try to score as much as possible and for me the most important thing is that we're playing well as a team.”

Being the stand-out performer in the Championship so far this season, it seems his outstanding contribution to Fulham's promotion quest has not gone unnoticed.

The 27-year-old striker signed a new five-year contract last summer which, the report claims, sees him rake in more than £100,000 a week if he meets all of the club’s performance targets.

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