Exclusive: Don Goodman names the most 'unplayable' EFL Championship star he's seen in the last 5 years | OneFootball

Don Goodman has seen plenty of high-quality performers in the Championship when on duty for Sky Sports

Sky Sports pundit and EFL expert Don Goodman has named the best player he has seen in recent EFL Championship seasons.

The English second tier has been home to many great players, sides and managers since the restructuring and rebranding of the pyramid back in 2004.

The likes of Wayne Rooney, Jay-Jay Okocha, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham are just a handful of high-profile stars to have played for a Championship club either at the beginning of their exceptional careers, or when they were still able to utilise their skills and presence to great effect at the likes of Hull City and Derby County respectively.

At present, there are also several eye-catching performers who have been touted for a potential Premier League move, such is the consistency that they have put in since breaking onto the first-team scene in the second tier, with Middlesbrough's box-to-box midfielder, Hayden Hackney, perhaps the prime example at this moment in time amid previous and continued links to sides in the top-flight both at home and on the continent.

Goodman has been a regular in press boxes across the Championship for almost two decades now, taking in plenty of stunning individual and collective performances that have helped sides achieve the ultimate end goal of winning the title or either achieving promotion automatically or via the post-season play-offs.

As such, he has exclusively told Football League World who the standout figure has been in that regard in recent seasons.

There's no disputing that a plethora of strikers have cemented their legacy not just at club, but divisional level across the past few years.

The likes of Billy Sharp and Jordan Rhodes certainly fall into said category after their stunning exploits for the likes of Southampton, Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town respectively, whilst also being first and second in terms of the Championship's all-time leading goalscorers, with Sharp taking that crown at present with an extraordinary tally of 130 in 410 second tier appearances.

However, Goodman opted to choose former Fulham striker, Aleksandar Mitrovic, as the best player he has seen grace the second tier in recent history, and it's hard to argue with such a claim.

The Serbian's first taste of the division came with Newcastle United during the Magpies' title-winning season under Rafael Benitez, in which he racked up just four goals and six assists in 25 league appearances. However, his exploits at Craven Cottage were, at times, beyond comprehension.

Firstly, a run of 12 goals in 17 games helped Slavisa Jokanovic return the West London side to the Premier League for the first time in four years as they defeated Aston Villa in the play-off final at Wembley, before topping the Championship scoring charts in another play-off winning campaign in 2019/20 under Scott Parker, netting 26 times in 40 appearances.

However, such feats pale in comparison to his staggering achievements under Marco Silva in the Cottagers' 2021/22 title-winning term.

The Portuguese had a plethora of star-studded names at his disposal that included Harry Wilson, Tom Cairney, Antonee Robinson and Fabio Carvalho.

However, their league-winning success could have transpired very differently had Mitrovic not netted a remarkable total of 43 goals in 44 games, a record which will most likely last the test of time.

"Best player comes in many, many different forms. But, as an ex-striker, I'm looking at a striker," Goodman explained to FLW when asked to pin down the best player he's seen at this level recently.

"I'm looking at who was the most 'unplayable' player that I might've seen in the last five years.

"Technically, this wouldn't be the best player that I've seen in the past five years. But, in terms of goal return and being 'unplayable', I am going for Aleksandar Mitrovic," the pundit stated.

"43 goals for Fulham in the 2021/22 season was, far and away, the most we've seen in the modern era. 43 goals in 46 games is just off the charts, bonkers and mad.

"I watched an awful lot of it, and he was, as I've said, simply unplayable. He's gone on to prove it wasn't a fluke."

Aleksandar Mitrovic could've picked up where he left off in Championship amid summer transfer links

There's no doubt that Mitrovic is the most potent goalscorer the division has seen of late, with nobody, unsurprisingly, threatening to emulate the remarkable feats of three years ago.

A record of 38 goals in 129 Premier League appearances suggest such numbers weren't a fluke either, with the vast majority of the aforementioned tally coming whilst at Craven Cottage.

At 31, the 103-time international and Serbian national team captain is currently featuring for Al-Rayyan of the Qatar Stars League, where he has already scored twice in three appearances.

Indeed, the powerful centre-forward could've picked up where he left off in the Championship this season amid reports of a potentially stunning move to newly-promoted and well-backed Birmingham City, albeit a move to St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park never materialised.