Seven players to watch in the Championship this season
Jarrod Bowen, Zan Vipotnik, Ethan Galbraith, Lorent Tolaj, Léo Scienza, Othmane Maamma and Mason Melia have been highlighted as seven players to watch in the Championship this season in a feature published on 13 August 2026.
The piece describes the Championship as often called the most exciting league in football and among the least predictable competitions in Europe, a platform where players can showcase their talent before moving to the top flight. It opens by saying this should be a big year for the seven named players and sets out why each is of interest for the coming campaign.
On Jarrod Bowen, the article states he is the best player in the Championship and identifies him as West Ham captain who has seemingly committed his future to the club and will be aiming to fire them back to the top flight. Across the last three seasons only seven players scored more Premier League goals than Bowen (38), while his 25 assists were bettered by only Bruno Fernandes (39) and Mohamed Salah (35). The feature records Bowen’s totals of 65 goals and 49 assists in 231 top-flight games with West Ham, giving him the most Premier League goal involvements (114) for the club and notes this season will be his first outside the top tier since he was at Hull City in 2019-20.
Zan Vipotnik is described as an unexpected top scorer last season, having previously managed seven goals in 42 league appearances for Swansea in his first campaign in the division. He finished 2025-26 with 23 goals while Swansea ended 11th and nine points off the playoffs, Vipotnik accounting for 40.4% of their goals (23 of 57) with no other player scoring more than six. The article notes the arrival of Ross Stewart from Southampton, who averaged the second-most goals per 90 minutes (0.73) in the Championship last season (800+ mins played), could help Vipotnik, and states Vipotnik has been linked to Hull City, newly promoted to the Premier League; if he stays at Swansea he could become the first player to score 20+ league goals in successive Championship seasons since Marlon Harewood in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
Ethan Galbraith’s move is detailed as Swansea allowing the midfielder to join Championship rivals for £10m this summer after he had joined Swansea from Leyton Orient last summer. The article describes him as technically gifted and calm in possession, recording more passes per 90 minutes than any other Swansea midfielder or forward in the Championship last season (49.6) and regaining possession from opponents more times than any of his teammates (201). The piece presents Galbraith as one of Swansea’s most composed players in possession during 2025-26.
Lorent Tolaj’s rise is summarised as a fourth successive season of progression: 19 goals in the National League for Aldershot in 2023-24, 14 goals in League Two with Port Vale in 2024-25, then 18 goals in League One last season (one for Port Vale and 17 for Plymouth) before a £4m transfer to Bristol City to test himself in the Championship. Tolaj finished last season as the fourth top scorer in League One and made eight assists, a tally only beaten by six players; only Dom Ballard (27) was involved in more goals than Tolaj (26) in the third tier and Ballard has joined Bristol City from Leyton Orient. The article adds Tolaj’s 113 shots were more than any other player in League One last season and that he averaged 3.7 shots per 90 minutes, a figure only Aaron Connolly bettered.
Léo Scienza is credited with a big impact at Southampton after joining from Heidenheim last September, contributing 10 assists in 39 league matches to finish as Southampton’s leading assister in the Championship while also scoring seven goals. He topped the club rankings for expected assists per 90 minutes (0.28) and only Ryan Manning (2.2) averaged more chances created per 90 minutes (2.1) for Saints in the Championship; Scienza was involved in 11 Championship goals after a ball carry last season, three more than any other player, and only Abdul Fatawu (78) had more ball carries leading to a shot or chance created than Scienza (75).
The article reports Watford signed Othmane Maamma last summer after his performances at the Under-20 World Cup, where he won the tournament with Morocco and was named player of the tournament. Maamma made his Watford debut in November and scored four goals and set up one more in the Championship, creating 30 open-play chances—the fourth most at the club from his first appearance onwards. It records the 20-year-old led the Championship rankings for take-ons per 90 minutes (8.9), successful take-ons per 90 (2.9) and take-ons in the opposition’s half per 90 (6.5) last season among players with at least 800 minutes, and notes Lincoln brought in 18-year-old Mason Melia on loan from Tottenham for the season.
Melia’s background is summarised as having made his name in the League of Ireland with St Patrick’s Athletic, where he scored 21 goals at an average of one every 202 minutes, his first of those goals coming against UCD in June 2023 when he was 15 years and 281 days old. The article says Melia made his Premier League 2 debut for Spurs in April and scored three goals in six appearances, including his first three minutes after coming off the bench in a 3-2 win over West Ham.
Ethan Galbraith will face Swansea in his first match of the season on Saturday afternoon. The piece is by Opta Analyst.