Adam Virgo’s three stars of the Championship season

By Adam Virgo – Brighton legend and TV pundit

We all know how Player of the Year awards work in football – from the Ballon d’Or to Sunday League, they always go to strikers.

If somebody hits 25 goals in a season, everybody else can forget it.

But could this season be different?

For the first time in a long time, there is no outstanding striker in the Championship, no Ollie Watkins, no Aleksandar Mitrovic, no Sammie Szmodics.

Even if you look beyond goals, Leeds United and Sheffield United have brilliant teams but no outstanding individual really jumps out.

With that in mind, here are my three nominations for Player of the Year – but the race is so open that I also wouldn’t be surprised if none made the official shortlist!

Finn Azaz – Middlesbrough

HIGH CLASS: Finn Azaz, left, celebrates scoring another goal for Middlesbrough
PICTURE: Alamy

My first nomination is also the player I think should win.

Middlesbrough are a frustrating team under Michael Carrick.

They’re either really good or really bad, and they seem incapable of putting in the sort of battling middle-of-the-road performance that you need to win promotion from the Championship.

But attacking midfielder Finn Azaz, a £2.5m signing from Aston Villa in January 2024, has been relentlessly consistent all season.

It’s there in his numbers – ten goals, 11 assists – but the thing that’s impressed me most about him is his positioning on the pitch and his ability to think two or three steps ahead to put himself in the right place to receive the ball.

That may not sound like much but it means he is always primed to play a key pass or get a shot away, and it’s a hallmark of all the best attacking players.

It’s an aspect of his game that has come on so much since I watched him play on loan at Plymouth a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay him is that whoever gets promoted to the Premier League this season will be looking at the 24-year-old as the sort of player they can buy to help them make the step up.

Boro just aren’t the same team without him.

James Trafford – Burnley

If Burnley’s incredible defence breaks all-time records this season – which they are currently on course to do – then how could you possibly overlook their goalkeeper?

People will say that a lot of their success is down to team shape, positional discipline and sacrificing attacking threat for clean sheets. I get that.

But James Trafford, 22, above, has made some massive contributions at really important times.

Sometimes it’s the big things, like saving two stoppage-time penalties from Wilson Isidor in the goalless draw with Sunderland at Turf Moor.

But mainly it’s the little things.

I was at the game against Leeds early in the season, when they won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Luca Koleosho.

Three times in the last few minutes, crosses came into the box.

He didn’t punch, didn’t flap – he came out and dominated the six-yard box, caught the ball, and relieved all the pressure.

As a defender, I can’t tell you how important those moments are.

He’s a future England goalkeeper without any shadow of a doubt.

Tom Fellows – West Bromwich Albion

Tom Fellows, above, is a winger who has come on leaps and bounds this season in terms of his positioning, much like Azaz.

I used to watch him and get really frustrated because he’d see a lot of the ball but put himself in positions where it was impossible to take on a defender.

Now he’s not just running at opponents, he’s beating them and getting consistently good deliveries into the box.

His tactical intelligence has come on leaps and bounds over the course of this season and the fact he has more assists than any other player in the Championship (11) says everything about him.

He’s direct, two-footed and, at 21, has bags of potential.

He’ll be a top-flight player before too long.