It has become increasingly important these days that full-backs are judged mandatorily based on their attacking contributions.
Even if they are excellent defensively, checking their assists or chance creation numbers and comparing them with the other full-backs has become very common.
Every manager wants one, if not both, of his team’s full-backs high up the pitch.
This allows them to up their attacking output and spend more time in the final third.
The Championship has never been short of producing exciting full-backs, and in the below visualisation, we pick out the top 10 attacking full-backs from 2023/24.
The number of successful attacking actions each player is involved in per game is taken into consideration, and the top 10 players are ranked accordingly.
Liam Millar
Liam Millar, on loan from FC Basel to Preston North End, has been involved in the highest number of successful attacking actions (6.53 per 90 minutes).
Millar, who was part of the Liverpool academy before he moved to Basel, ranks number one for dribbles per 90 with 9.25.
He has played majority of his minutes as a left-wing back but has also performed an advanced role as a left-winger at times, which has allowed him to cross the ball to the box more frequently.
With four goals and five assists to his name, Millar is one of the most attacking full-backs in the league.
Sorba Thomas
Next up is Sorba Thomas — one of the most creative players in the league.
Thomas, who played as winger and as a defender, ranks number one for expected assists (11.89) per 90 minutes.
Kyle Walker-Peters
Kyle Walker-Peters — finally living up to his potential — has been another exciting full-back to watch in the Championship this term.
Walker-Peters is important to manager Russell Martin’s system and is rarely left out of the starting XI.
He might not have the numbers in every metric to prove he is one of the best, but the former Spurs player does rank high for some of key metrics, including progressive runs per 90 and touches in the box per 90.
The Championship has also seen some other full-backs elevate their attacking game by a notch during the course of the season, including Leif Davis of Ipswich Town, Trai Hume of Sunderland, Brooke Norton-Cuffy of Millwall, Ethan Laird of Birmingham City, and Marvin Johnson of Sheffield Wednesday, among many others.
It will be interesting to see how many of these make the move up to the Premier League.
