EFL Countdown | #23 Ben Brereton Díaz

From being rejected by boyhood club Stoke City to facing off against Lionel Messi & co. in the Copa América, it’s been a remarkable career already for our next player in the ‘Top 72’ of the EFL.

Before we introduce the player in question, we'd like to quickly point out that 'Playmaker's 72' is not necessarily aimed at ID'ing the best footballers across the EFL - instead, it focuses on those who have enjoyed the best campaigns across the Championship, League One and League Two this season.

Now on to the cult hero of La Roja... Blackburn Rovers and Chile forward, Ben Brereton Díaz.

"After I got released a couple of times, I questioned whether football was for me or not,” Ben Brereton told SPORTbible earlier this season. “My dad was also thinking about it but I decided to keep on playing and my family supported me."

The Blackburn Rovers man had first been released by Manchester United as a boy and then by Stoke City but Nottingham Forest snapped the player up and he finally made his breakthrough. Rovers had to pay £7million to secure the promising forward’s services in 2019.

Now Brereton Diaz is one of the stars of the Championship and an unlikely cult hero in his mother’s native country of Chile. The story is famous now: a Football Manager update to include the fact that Brereton is half-Chilean (something that was discovered from a causal pre-season Q&A with the player), a social media campaign by Chilean fans, and the help of Jeremy Corbyn’s son, Ben, to secure his new passport.

“People ask me if it was a tough decision; it wasn't,” according to the player, who also won the UEFA European U19 Championship with England. “The chance to go and play with some great players and experience a different culture… It was an easy decision to make."

©Getty / Tim Goode - PA Images

Since the the start of 2022, 23-year old has scored just once and without his goals Tony Mowbray’s team are struggling. The manager admitted himself that his side were ‘asking too much’ of the player with the pressure once again on Brereton's shoulders since his return a few weeks ago. Brereton's contribution is crucial though – he's been involved in 42% of his team’s goals this campaign.

Before the injury, Brereton was on fire and it seemed like he was single-handedly dragging his side towards a play-off place. He was the most productive South American player out of the UEFA ‘top 5’ leagues and the Championship – having already scored more than the likes of Vinícius Júnior and Lautaro Martínez. Indeed, Aleksandar Mitrovic is the only player to score more goals than Brereton in the first half of the season.

It’s remarkable that Brereton is still the Championship’s third-highest scorer with 21 goals despite only playing 34 games this season while those around him have played much more. Only Dominic Solanke (26 goals, 41 games) and Mitrovic (40 goals, 40 games) have scored more in the league this season.

Brereton’s goalscoring record could have been even higher had he not hit the post four times already this season – Bristol City’s Antoine Semenyo is the one player who struck the woodwork more often (6).

Blackburn still technically have a chance to sneak into a play-off spot this season, but in this current form it’s looking highly unlikely. They'll need their talisman to make the difference once again to give Rovers a chance.

However, Brereton could still make it to the Premier League next year with clubs like West Ham United apparently taking an interest in the player. Or, if he the forward wants to continue his international journey, he could make the move to Sevilla should recent rumours prove to be true.

Playmaker's 72

Check out the articles for all of those featured so far...

24: Matty Taylor

25: Cameron Brannagan 26: Josh Bowler

27: Jamille Matt 28: Chris Willock 29: Will Keane

30: Lee Nichols 31: Elijah Adebayo 32: Barry Bannan

33: Dapo Afolayan 34: Billy Sharp 35: Sorba Thomas 

36: Matt Jay 37: Bartosz Bialkowski 

38: Nicky Cadden 39: James McClean 

40: Morgan Gibbs-White 41: Antonee Robinson 

42: Harry Darling 43: David Ajiboye 44: Jevani Brown 

45: Luke Leahy 46: Liam Roberts 47: Lewis O'Brien 

48: Gavin Bazunu 49: Lloyd Kelly 50: Sepp van den Berg 

51: Wes Burns 52: Wes Foderingham 53: Ross Sykes 

54: Dan Neil 55: Kal Naismith 56: Fraser Horsfall 

57: Keane Lewis-Potter 58: Jack Diamond 

59: Christian Walton 60: Ricardo Santos 

61: Jack Rudoni 62: Matt Grimes 63: Ilias Chair 

64: Conor Grant 65: Peter Clarke 66: Callum Lang 

67: Viktor Gyökeres 68: Stephen McLaughlin 

69: Tom Lawrence 70: Davis Keillor-Dunn 

71: Emil Riis 72: Rob Dickie