Exclusive: Lee Hendrie names the best 3 EFL Championship players of all time | OneFootball

The EFL Pundit has weighed in on who he feels are the best to ever grace the second tier

There have been a plethora of quality players to have graced the Championship at some point in their careers.

Players who have gone on to be full-time internationals, winning trophies at the height of the domestic and continental games, have either started down in the English second tier or have had to drop down to realise their top-class potential.

Picking out the definitive top three greatest Championship players of all time is an incredibly tough task, but former Aston Villa midfielder and current EFL pundit Lee Hendrie has named his during an exclusive interview with Football League World.

There are plenty of factors to take into account here. Should just the time spent in the Championship count, or should it include the wider context of their careers? In the end, Hendrie decided to provide a mixture of both, listing three players who dominated in short bursts in the second tier, before going on to bigger and better things.

Lee Hendrie reveals his top three Championship players of all time

Lee Hendrie prefaced his answers by stating that it's a "difficult one" to single out just three players, but he initially outlined Aleksandar Mitrovic, whose most dominant moments during his time in England came in the Championship with Fulham, especially in the 2021/22 campaign, where he netted 43 in 44 en route to the title.

"Just looking back, and one who stands out to me is Mitrovic," Hendrie said. "He scored bundles of goals at Fulham.

"You felt that at one stage he was just going to be a Championship player; when Fulham went up, he didn't really meet the expectation levels of what he was in the Championship, where he scored so many goals and was an absolute handful.

In the end, Mitrovic's goalscoring antics did translate to the top flight, and he's spent the last few seasons terrorising defences in the Saudi Professional League.

Secondly, Hendrie mentioned Jack Grealish, who was a big part of the Aston Villa sides that spent three seasons in the Championship in the late 2010s.

"For me, [Grealish] was absolutely unbelievable when he was with Villa in the Championship," Hendrie continued.

"He was key going forward for them and had a massive say in their promotion, being the captain at the time."

Grealish would go on to join Manchester City for £100 million and win the Champions League. Similarly, Hendrie's third pick, Gareth Bale, went on to achieve continental success at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League five times.

Bale only played one season in the English second tier, helping Southampton reach the play-offs as a 17-year-old in the 2006/07 campaign, but his influence was enough to land him among the best to ever do it at the level.

"You look at the likes of Bale, who played in the Championship, and you think to yourself how good he was," Hendrie said.

"Obviously, he went on to bigger and better things, as did all three of these players. So much quality to watch, and that's why they went on to be so successful, be that at Real Madrid, Manchester City, and obviously, Mitrovic moved to Saudi Arabia, where he's smashed it out of the park.

"These players have been top Championship players in my eyes, but I've probably missed some out, there's been so many!"

Picking just three top Championship players is almost impossible

As Hendrie alluded to, there are so many talents who have graced the English second tier, from those who spent the early stages of their careers here, such as Bale and Grealish, to those who enjoyed their primes in the Championship, like Mitrovic did.

Then you factor in those whose majority of their careers took place in the Championship and excelled as a top second-tier operator; the likes of Peter Whittingham and Billy Sharp, to name a couple.

It goes to show how incredible a division the Championship is — that you can take players at different stages of their careers and create a competitive, fun league with plenty of talented individuals.