We are firmly into the top 20 of our ’72 of the 72’ and not far off getting to the real juicy bit at the end of our countdown!
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!
The next man on our list is Derby County’s silky rock at the back with the ever impressive and constantly improving Eiran Cashin.
Derby County finished second in League One and the Rams will definitely be playing Championship football next season, but it would be no surprise to see their young Irish stalwart skip the second-tier and find himself in the Premier League next season, to be frank.
The 22-year-old, who has yet to be capped for the Irish national team, has already made 122 appearances for Derby since beginning his professional career with them in 2021 after coming through their very productive academy.
Conceding just 37 goals in 46 games, Derby’s automatic promotion was built upon an extremely impressive defensive solidity underpinned by the excellence and consistency of Cashin.
📊Fewest goals conceded in the #EFL this season:
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) April 27, 2024
3⃣7⃣: 🐏DERBY COUNTY🐏
3⃣9⃣: Leicester
4⃣0⃣: Lincoln
4⃣1⃣: Portsmouth, Leeds
Congratulations @dcfcofficial 🎉🥳#DCFC pic.twitter.com/MlJwLMvwG8
Rated at 7.43 on average by WhoScored, Cashin ranks as the second-best player in League One for the 2023/24 season behind Stevenage’s own defensive rock, Carl Piergianni.
The truly impressive thing about Cashin is his general all-round ability with no standout weaknesses anywhere in his game, be that either on the ball or his day-to-day business of defending.
Cashin actually tops the charts for interceptions made (71) in League One this season, and features in the 'Top 10' for a raft of other stat categories, namely: clearances made (221), aerials won (258) and shots blocked (37).
With 53.8 passes per game on average, he ranks at the top of that list for the Rams, too, and he pinged an impressive 216 accurate long balls throughout the course of the season - only Peterborough's Ronnie Edwards (309), Wigan's Charlie Hughes (250), Wycombe's Luke Leahy (226) and Reading's Lewis Wing (217) spraying more from outfield positions.
If he is playing for Derby again next season then the Championship new boys can make a serious claim to having one of the best defenders in the second-tier.
🥇Most aerial duels won in 22/23 (League One):
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) January 18, 2023
1⃣7⃣0⃣: ⚡️EIRAN CASHIN⚡️
1⃣4⃣9⃣: Caleb Taylor
1⃣4⃣5⃣: Ellis Harrison
1⃣4⃣1⃣: Sam Vokes
1⃣2⃣2⃣: Sam Hughes#DCFC @eirancashin pic.twitter.com/l65IgLOR8g
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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NameEiran Joe Cashin Born/Age2001-11-09(22 -yrs-old) Nationality Rep. of Ireland PositionDefender (Centre Back) | |
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