Best defensive midfielders in Championship

The highest-potential defensive midfielders in Championship, ranked on Field Insider.

At a glance

S. Charles of Southampton is the standout for raw talent across defensive midfielders in Championship, with a Field Insider Rating of 74.8, and C. Brannagan has been the form player this season, grading 54.2, and J. James leads the scoring with 11 goals.

The numbers a scout watches are the year-on-year jumps: H. Amass has improved his Season rating most, up +43.4 on last season, while M. Yalcouyé's scouting Rating has risen fastest, +31.9 over the same span. Those are the players whose trajectory is bending upward fastest.

By our market-value index, V. Torp of Coventry is the most valuable name in this group at 40.5.

Swansea · 24/25→25/26

Most improved

H. Amass+43.4SsN

Sheffield Wednesday · 24/25→25/26

50 players · ranked by best potentialCustomise →

#	Player	Team	Age	Season	Rating
1	S. Charles Defensive midfielder	Southampton	22	475.1%	752.9%
2	A. Morris Defensive midfielder	Middlesbrough	24	3618.6%	712.4%
3	J. James Defensive midfielder	Leicester	22	51204.8%	701.1%
4	H. Amass Defensive midfielder	Sheffield Wednesday	19	481058.5%	704.8%
5	Gonçalo Franco Defensive midfielder	Swansea	25	5117.1%	69±0%
6	I. Kaboré Defensive midfielder	Wrexham	25	43709.4%	697.6%
7	D. Ozoh Defensive midfielder	Derby	21	30159.1%	6912.7%
8	G. Thomason Defensive midfielder	Wrexham	25	3916%	6936.5%
9	A. Randell Defensive midfielder	Bristol City	25	428.5%	695.1%
10	M. Stamenić Defensive midfielder	Swansea	24	37619.6%	6884.3%
11	V. Torp Defensive midfielder	Coventry	26	53105.9%	680.7%
12	Jacob Wright Defensive midfielder	Norwich	20	1672%	663.3%
13	B. Mitchell Defensive midfielder	Millwall	25	23205.3%	659.6%
14	M. Yalcouyé Defensive midfielder	Swansea	20	155%	6596.7%
15	H. Clarke Defensive midfielder	Charlton	25	26145.2%	636.7%
16	R. Slater Defensive midfielder	Hull City	26	4077.9%	630.8%
17	R. Longman Defensive midfielder	Wrexham	25	24114.4%	6236.8%
18	Cameron Bragg Defensive midfielder	Southampton	21	6328.6%	6256.9%
19	L. Chambers Defensive midfielder	Charlton	22	1429.1%	6244%
20	M. Topić Defensive midfielder	Norwich	25	1550.8%	614.2%
21	O. Skipp Defensive midfielder	Leicester	25	2555%	6015.1%
22	T. Gardner-Hickman Defensive midfielder	Blackburn	24	1440.4%	6022.9%
23	M. Leonard Defensive midfielder	Birmingham	24	1335.6%	5924.4%
24	El Hadji Djibril Soumaré Defensive midfielder	Sheffield Utd	23	1065.9%	592.3%
25	A. McCann Defensive midfielder	Preston	26	3941.2%	594.8%
26	D. Neil Defensive midfielder	Ipswich	24	586.9%	5922.3%
27	A. Gilbert Defensive midfielder	Middlesbrough	24	1290.3%	5937.6%
28	R. McGree Defensive midfielder	Middlesbrough	27	39198.5%	590.9%
29	Y. Konak Defensive midfielder	Oxford United	20	7644.4%	5818.8%
30	C. Coventry Defensive midfielder	Charlton	26	2731.5%	5813%
31	C. Brittain Defensive midfielder	Middlesbrough	28	3812.5%	587.8%
32	A. Dozzell Defensive midfielder	Portsmouth	27	3314.2%	587.6%
33	A. Matusiwa Defensive midfielder	Ipswich	28	455.9%	5716.9%
34	F. Downes Defensive midfielder	Southampton	27	3517.1%	5723%
35	G. Dobson Defensive midfielder	Wrexham	28	406.6%	529.7%
36	L. Travis Defensive midfielder	Derby	28	2923.2%	5118.7%
37	T. Iwata Defensive midfielder	Birmingham	29	383.8%	5014.1%
38	C. De Norre Defensive midfielder	Millwall	29	3827.6%	4818.5%
39	J. Taylor Defensive midfielder	Ipswich	28	2692.5%	4819.4%
40	F. Onyeka Defensive midfielder	Coventry	28	2815.3%	4831.9%
41	Paik Seung-Ho Defensive midfielder	Birmingham	29	4151.3%	4814.6%
42	M. Targett Defensive midfielder	Middlesbrough	30	4723550%	452.6%
43	M. Grimes Defensive midfielder	Coventry	31	380.5%	4215.6%
44	C. Brannagan Defensive midfielder	Oxford United	30	5435.8%	4216.4%
45	E. Adams Defensive midfielder	Derby	30	4743.7%	4223.3%
46	H. Choudhury Defensive midfielder	Leicester	28	1634.4%	4124.6%
47	A. Hadžiahmetović Defensive midfielder	Hull City	29	2286.2%	4111.2%
48	O. Rathbone Defensive midfielder	Wrexham	29	323%	409.3%
49	S. Tronstad Defensive midfielder	Blackburn	30	373.6%	4022.7%
50	J. Riedewald Defensive midfielder	Sheffield Utd	29	24129.1%	403.6%