Our quest to count down the top performers in the EFL this season nears its climax and, from here on in, each and every entrant is a statistical heavyweight!
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!
From nought to 70 in two seasons, Notts County goal machine Macaulay Langstaff is next to make the grade.
Arguably the most self-absorbed breed of footballer, all true forwards - in Playmaker's incredibly unclinical opinion - have an addictive streak to their personalities.
This season we spoke with Bradford striker Jake Young about his cravings while on loan at Swindon, and last term we chatted with a National League hotshot regarding his own insatiable appetite for football's number one currency: goals!
That fifth tier phenomenon has blasted his way to League Two's Golden Boot this season...and an incredible 70 league goals in just two seasons suggest there is much, much more to come from Notts County striker Macaulay Langstaff.
Talking to Playmaker in January last year, Langstaff spoke of a mentality shift that has run parallel to his prolific goal-scoring.
"I think the main thing for me, and I think a lot of centre-forwards have this, is that you get this sort of weird mentality when you start scoring regularly, where you get even more hungry.
"Now I don't want to go back to getting one every three or four games. I want to score even more (regularly)..."
Averaging a goal every 144 minutes this season, Langstaff has seamlessly adapted to life in League Two and his 28 goals earned him the division's Golden Boot, along with a spot in the L2 'Team of the Season'.
An incredible first EFL season from our number nine! 🖤 pic.twitter.com/QoAHWNx5J4
— Notts County FC (@Official_NCFC) April 27, 2024
A hugely influential player in a team with the highest average possession share (65%) in the league, it is remarkable how singular Langstaff's contribution to the Magpies' cause is.
The Stockton-on-Tees born forward was billed 'The National League Haaland' last term and, much like the Norwegian goal machine, Langstaff's involvement is almost exclusively limited to the ruthless business of scoring goals.
While centre-back Aden Baldwin (91 passes-per-game) topped the charts for Notts in terms of passes completed this season, Langstaff ranked 22nd among Magpies players with just 15 successful passes on average per game.
The 27-year-old's energies are almost exclusively funnelled towards his superpower of hitting the net, and Langstaff's shooting stats make for much more interesting reading.
With 172 shots (150 from open-play), Langstaff fired in more efforts on goal and more shots on target (69) than any player in League Two - notably ranking sixth for headers on goal behind an imposing cast consisting of Matt Smith, Andy Cook, Harry Smith, Aden Flint and Oliver Hawkins.
No mention of Langstaff's goal-scoring heroics would be complete with an honourable mention for Notts winger Jodi Jones, who broke the League Two assists record by supplying 24 goals during the 2023/24 campaign - including five for his prolific striker.
The upheaval of a mid-season managerial change no doubt affected Notts County's promotion hopes and ending the season in 14th, saddled with League Two's worst defence, was not the outcome many had in mind for the Magpies given the verve and firepower in their ranks.
Despite his team's vacillating fortunes, Langstaff has continued to score goals at an outrageous rate and with the likes of Sunderland, Coventry and Wrexham all reportedly keen on the striker, you can expect plenty of summer transfer speculation regarding his future.
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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NameMacaulay Langstaff Born/Age1997-02-03(27 -yrs-old) Nationality England PositionForward (Striker) | |
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