Nottingham Forest striker Joe Lolley has been voted by you as the 13th best player in the EFL.
Over the last month, we have been gathering votes from you to find the best managers and players in the EFL. And after counting the votes, we have discovered you think that Lolley is the 13th best player in the Football League. This is the first time that he has been on the Top 50 Players countdown.
One of the differences between US Sport and UK Sport is the way players break through. In the UK, we use academies run by specific clubs and you come through that way. In America, you go to college, play sport there and then get drafted by a professional league if they are good enough. Because UK academies in all sports sign their players very young, it’s very rare for them ever play for a University or College in America, and it’s just as rare for someone who played sport at university to go professional as surely if they were good enough, they would have been signed before.
However, Lolley is that exception and this season with Forest he proved to be one hell of an exception. After playing for clubs such as Littleton, Kidderminster Harriers and Huddersfield Town, he landed at the East Midlands club last summer and proved to be one of the best signings they have made in recent years. In his 51 appearances for Forest this season, he scored 12 goals but it was also his creativity which helped land him so high on this list.
