Exclusive: Don Goodman names the 4 best strikers in the EFL Championship right now | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman speaks to FLW about who he feels are the best frontmen in the second tier

Sky Sports pundit and former EFL striker Don Goodman has outlined who he feels are the best strikers currently plying their trade in the Championship.

The 2025/26 campaign has so far seen a plethora of attacking quality across the board, and goals are therefore coming from everywhere, not just from the main striker.

The likes of Brandon Thomas-Asante, Joe Gelhardt, and Jay Stansfield have all profited from playing just off the frontman, either behind or out wide.

Someone like Haji Wright is seen by many as a winger, but has profited from being played more as a central striker by Frank Lampard at Coventry City.

So, it's difficult to signal out-and-out strikers in the division. But whilst it's difficult, it's not impossible, and there are still plenty of traditional frontmen making their mark in the second tier so far this season.

In an exclusive interview with Football League World, former Wolves and West Brom frontman Don Goodman has weighed in with who he feels is the best of the best.

Don Goodman names his top four strikers in the Championship

Don Goodman acknowledged the difficulty of this question for multiple reasons. Not only is the striker role a little bit blurred this season, but even when you take those who score from other attacking areas of the pitch out of the equation, it's tough to whittle things down to just four.

"It's a very difficult question, because you have the likes of Thomas-Asante, Gelhardt and Stansfield who I wouldn't consider out-and-out strikers," the EFL pundit said.

"Even Haji Wright, is he an out-and-out striker? He'd be on the list as the maybe, with the tools to be the best of the lot. He's not there yet, but he has the potential to be.

"So there isn't a monstrous choice for out-and-out options, but the obvious choice is Carlton Morris."

Morris has rediscovered his scoring knack at Derby County this season, and is joint with Thomas-Asante atop the Championship scorers chart with 10 goals going into the November international break.

He's already netted two more times in 26 fewer appearances than he did at Luton Town last season, and he's showing signs of the 20-goal striker he was when the Hatters were promoted three seasons ago.

"Then you have the likes of big Kieffer Moore, who'd be a nightmare to play against," Goodman continued.

"Similarly, with Ollie McBurnie, it's a shame he's injured at the moment."

Both McBurnie and Moore are bruisers up at the top end of the pitch, and they have provided their respective sides with not just an easy out ball, but goals too. McBurnie with six in 10, and Moore with seven in 15.

Alongside those three, Goodman has opted for someone who may be out of form currently, but is widely regarded as one of the best frontmen in the second tier.

"And then I'd chuck Josh Sargent in there. Although he hasn't scored since the end of August, he's a player whose movement is always exceptional, and his finishing usually is, too.

"So I would have Sargent in a list of top Championship strikers."

The striker position is full of quality once more in the Championship

After Joel Piroe won the Championship's golden boot last season with just 19 goals, the lowest since the second tier was renamed in 2004, there seems to be a little more quality in front of goal this time round.

Both Morris and Thomas-Asante are already halfway towards the Leeds United frontman's tally as we head into November, and there are several strikers below them looking to knock them off their perch come May.

The fact that different striker styles are profiting in the second tier once more is refreshing to see, too, with a mixture of dominant big men and nifty, pacy dribblers amongst each other. Picking just four to form a list of the best is nigh on impossible.

One thing is for certain, though: the Championship golden boot race will be a fun one to observe throughout the campaign.