Playmaker's EFL 72: #27 Ryan Giles

With the current campaign entering its final straight, Playmaker has dipped a toe in contentious waters and ranked the top 72 players from across the EFL. 

Those who followed 'The Playmaker 72' last season know the drill: this is less a countdown of the 'best' footballers across the EFL, more a celebration of those players who have lit up the Championship, League One and League Two throughout 2022/23.

To once again paraphrase the great Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, these are just, like, our opinions, man - and we will do our utmost to back up them up with facts, stats and analysis.

The latest top performer to make the cut is the top assister in the Championship this season.

Number 27: Ryan Giles (Middlesbrough)

We're off to Teesside for our next addition to the 'Playmaker 72' - with Middlesbrough’s on-loan full-back Ryan Giles taking centre stage for what has been an exceptional campaign for both player and club.

We’ll start with a simple yet impressive statistic: Giles has the most assists (11) in the Championship, one ahead of Coventry City duo Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres and Sunderland’s Jack Clarke, all of whom are on ten. 

The 23 year-old joined ‘Boro on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2022, having previously played at left wing-back for a season on loan in the Championship with Cardiff in the first-half and Blackburn in the second-half of the 2021/22 campaign.

Giles began his stint at Cardiff putting up seemingly unsustainable numbers for assists, providing the key and final pass for four goals in The Bluebirds’ opening four matches. In 21 appearances, he ended up with an impressive nine assists before struggling to really nail down a starting spot at Ewood Park under the management of Tony Mowbray.

Can't wait for next season, hopefully he gets in the squad. #WWFC #ryangiles pic.twitter.com/YTZ59uUNGR

— 1otuser.exe (@1otus3r) April 28, 2023

Signing for Chris Wilder coached Middlesbrough at the start of the season, he seemed an ideal fit for his manager's well-known wing-back system, but as The Smoggies’ performances and results underwhelmed to the point of relegation becoming a genuine threat, Michael Carrick arrived in place of the sacked Wilder and immediately switched formation to a back-four. The change has been for Boro and for Giles, who has thrived in the out and out left-back role.

Only Ryan Manning, James Bree and Sorba Thomas have managed more combined key passes and crosses per game on average so far this season than Giles, which underlines both his work-rate and his creativity.  

With the play-offs beginning next week, it could and probably should be that Giles is a Premier League player next season, regardless of the outcome of the semi-final and potential final for Carrick’s side.

Playmaker's EFL 72...the countdown

27. Ryan Giles 28. Colby Bishop

29: Christian Walton 30. Amad Diallo 31: Mads Andersen 32: Sam Morsy 

33: Jack Clarke 34: Eiran Cashin 35: Alfie May 36: Wes Burns 37: Conor Bradley 

38: Anel Ahmedhodžić 39: Shaun Rooney 40: Ben Whitfield 41: Adam Phillips 

42: Joel Piroe 43: Kristian Dennis 44: Liam Palmer 45: Idris El Mizouni 

46: Taylor Harwood-Bellis 47: Ricardo Santos 48: João Pedro 49: Conor Hourihane 

50: Anass Zaroury 51: Morgan Whittaker 52: James Trafford 53: Sam Nombe 

54: Theo Archibald 55: Hayden Hackney 56: Gabriel Sara 57: Gustavo Hamer 

58: Miles Leaburn 59: Jacob Greaves 60: Dion Charles 61: John Swift 62: Luca Connell 

63: Jerry Yates 64: Dan Sweeney 65: Tom Ince 66: Dan Kemp 67: Finn Azaz 

68: Dan Agyei 69: Freddie Woodman 70: Will Collar 71: Anis Mehmeti 72: Ibou Touray