Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Opinion

2 Newcastle United stars make list of 10 best Championship players this season

7 years ago
Share

Only the Championship table on 7 May 2017 will tell us whether Newcastle United are the best team this season, in this division.

How about who the best players are though?

This is obviously very subjective and comes down to opinion.

Interesting though to see what an outside/neutral opinion is, plus whether any Newcastle United players are seen as amongst the top performing individuals.

This is a Top 10 that the excellent Football365 have put together and it contains two Newcastle stars.

Here is the Top 10 and their write-up on the two NUFC players that are included:

Anthony Knockaert (Brighton)

Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United)

Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield)

Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa)

Chris Wood (Leeds)

Tom Cairney (Fulham)

Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday)

Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United)

Tammy Abraham (Bristol City)

Liam Moore (Reading)

Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United)

‘Of the 13 players to score more than ten Championship goals this season, 12 have played more than 2,000 minutes and eight have played more than 2,500.

The exception is the man in second place, with 21 goals. Gayle has scored once for every 91 minutes played in the league this season. Only regular injuries have stopped him from already reaching 30 goals.

There are plenty of Crystal Palace supporters who believe that Gayle was not given the chances his talent deserved at Selhurst Park, and the striker should get a chance to rub his former club’s nose in it next season.

Yet he is one a number of players in Newcastle’s squad over whom there are question marks about their ability to thrive in the Premier League. Actually, scratch that: Almost every one of Newcastle’s squad has a question mark over their ability to thrive in the Premier League.’

Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United)

Ritchie has not been at his absolute best since arriving from Bournemouth last summer, but he is potentially the finest player in the Championship.

Even at 90%, the Scotland international has scored nine league goals and assisted seven more, and been an integral part of Newcastle’s automatic promotion campaign.

Moving from the Premier League to the Championship after years of work to reach the top flight might seem like an unambitious move, but Ritchie has spoke of his desire to be part of something special at St James’ Park, and was headhunted personally by Rafa Benitez.

 “I was talking with a lot of people; talking about a lot of options, of different players, and Ritchie was one of the first names,” Benitez said in January. “He is one player that if you sign him, you know you are right.”

High praise, and one of a select few in black and white that truly can be trusted in the Premier League should Newcastle achieve promotion.’

Guessing that most Newcastle fans would wonder whether Jonjo Shelvey should have been included.

The list is top heavy with strikers and midfielders and so maybe not such a surprise that Ciaran Clark doesn’t get a mention, even though he has been Newcastle’s player of the season so far.

To read the full Football365 article go HERE.

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks