The 'Playmaker 72' profiles began to blur together somewhat as we worked down our prestigious list of the top performers this season - but Playmaker's kaleidoscope of statistical summaries is snapping into focus as we enter the 'Top 5'.
It's certainly been no easy task, but - just to clarify - our '72' is less a roll call of the best footballers in the EFL and more a tribute to those players who have enjoyed the most memorable seasons while racking up the most impressive stats.
Whatever the criteria, we're confident in our selections of the most outstanding players through the Championship, League One, and League Two and welcome any debate on the subject!
Another climber from last season's countdown, we welcome Ipswich Town's impressive full-back Leif Davis at Number Five.
When he placed at Number 14 in last year's 'Playmaker 72', we billed Ipswich Town left-back Leif Davis as "League One's assist king" - and he's remarkably taken the crown in the Championship this season as well.
The second tier's top assister with 18 to his name, Davis has been absolutely integral to Ipswich Town's stunning rise to the Premier League - the 24-year-old helping the Tractor Boys pip his former club Leeds United to automatic promotion this term.
Davis' wand of a left foot has been a potent weapon for Ipswich ever since he moved to Portman Road ahead of the 2022/23 season, and his 32 league assists for the East Anglians mean he has laid on more goals than any player in 'The 92' over the past two campaigns.
As Conor Chaplin's support act, Davis has formed part of the most productive goalscorer/assister duo in the second tier - the latter laying on seven of Chaplin's 13 goals during the 2023/24 season, as the Tractor Boys collectively outscored every other club in the Championship with 92 goals.
An undoubted threat from set-pieces, Davis set-up five goals from dead-ball situations for Ipswich (two corners, three free-kicks) - but his creativity was most evident from free play, the progressive full-back chalking up more key passes (125) than any player across the entire top four tiers of English football this season.
🏠Most goals scored at HOME in a Championship season (fr. 2004/05):
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) May 5, 2024
59⚽️: Ipswich (23/24)
58⚽️: Reading (05/06)
56⚽️: Fulham (21/22), Newcastle (09/10)
55⚽️: Norwich (16/17)#ITFC pic.twitter.com/Aou4LGKBBu
Davis may only have chipped in with two goals, but he stepped up to the plate at big moments towards the end of the season: a blistering strike in a 3-2 win over Bristol City in March eclipsed by his dramatic injury-time matchwinner in a high stakes victory over promotion rivals Southampton in early April.
The wideman balanced his staggering offensive output with some very solid defensive numbers as well, Davis ranking third in the Championship for crosses blocked (21) and well inside the division's 'Top 50' for tackles won (76).
Not bad at all for a player who hadn't played a full season in men's football prior to arriving at Ipswich!
The undoubted catalyst behind Ipswich's successive promotion has been manager Kieran McKenna, and the former Manchester United assistant coach spoke glowingly about his full-back's contribution this season in an interview with Sky Sports back in April.
"The challenge for him, like all our players, was to push on and show they could compete in the Championship.
"He's had a really strong season and is a big part of how we play. The consistency of his output is really high from a physical and technical perspective."
After finishing as the "assist king" in both League One and the Championship, could Davis complete a sensational 'Three-peat' in the Premier League next season??
6: Sammie Szmodics 7: Harrison Burrows
8: Elliot Lee 9: Adam Armstrong 10: Davis Keillor-Dunn 11: Georginio Rutter
12: Gabriel Sara 13: Marlon Pack 14: Macaulay Langstaff 15: Ephron Mason-Clark
16: Dan Kemp 17: Joe Taylor 18: Eiran Cashin 19: Ali Al-Hamadi
20: Jack Clarke 21: Isaac Olaofe 22: Carl Piergiani 23: Jaden Philogene
24: Alfie May 25: Will Evans 26: Jamie Reid 27: Morgan Whittaker
28: Conor Chaplin 29: George Thomason 30: Mickey Demetriou
31: Stephy Mavididi 32: Marc Leonard 33: Josh Sheehan
34: Matt Smith 35: Kwame Poku 36: Illan Meslier 37: Aden Flint
38: Ronnie Edwards 39: Josh Sargent 40: Alex Gilbey 41: Ben Sheaf
42: Jobe Bellingham 43: Devante Cole 44: Jacob Greaves 45: Paddy Lane
46: Herbie Kane 47: Dan James 48: Archie Collins 49: Karamoko Dembele
50: Haji Wright 51: Dan Crowley 52: Cameron Brannagan 53: Aaron Collins
54: Andy Cook 55: Connor Shaughnessy 56: Jannik Vestergaard
57: Willy Gnonto 58: Ellis Simms 59: Charlie Hughes 60: Fatawu Isshaku
61: Sam Hoskins 62: Paul Mullin 63: Chris Martin 64: Omari Hutchinson
65: Isaac Hutchinson 66: Sam Tickle 67: Ben Hinchcliffe 68: Michał Helik
69: Lewis Wing 70: Rob Apter 71: Kyle Walker-Peters 72: Alex Palmer
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NameLeif Davis Born/Age2000-01-12(24 -yrs-old) Nationality England PositionDefender (Left Back) | |
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