Last weekend, the Women’s Championship reached its climax, with Crystal Palace finishing the season as champions and gaining promotion to the WSL.
Over the past decade, we have seen a number of players make the step up from Women’s Championship to WSL, such as England national team stars Beth Mead, Fran Kirby and Millie Bright, along with more recently players such as Poppy Pritchard moving Durham to Manchester City.
In this data analysis, we highlight four players we think are ready to make the step up from Women’s Championship to WSL in the near future. We will do this by looking at a range of data and statistics that aim to shine a light on players in a range of different aspects of the game.
Rachel Brown, 23 (Sheffield Utd) – right back
One of the first players we are going to look at is Sheffield United right-back Rachel Brown. Having played a total of 1975 minutes for the Blades over the 2023/24 season, she became a vital part of the side as they finished in seventh position. Let’s take a more in-depth look at some of the underlying numbers that make her an interesting proposition for a WSL side.
In this graph, we compare the contribution of every Women’s Championship player who played 500 minutes or more on the field.
We have compared PAdj interceptions with defensive duels to try to identify players who are excelling defensively. PAdj interceptions are a good statistic for interpreting game understanding, while defensive duels are particularly good indicators for indicating one-on-one duels, which is going to be a key aspect of the game for a full-back.
As you can see here, amongst all the players in the division across multiple positions, Brown is still clearly one of the top performers in both categories. She is the fifth-best performer in terms of PAdj interceptions, averaging 10.56 per 90.
In addition to this, she is also the twelfth-best performer in defensive duels per 90 minutes, averaging 10.44 per 90 minutes and completing these at a success rate of 72.49%, which is again one of the highest success rates in the division.
As you can see from this, Brown is one of the strongest defensive-performing full-backs in the Women’s Championship. However, a modern-day full-back is also required to contribute in attack as well so let’s take a look at how she fares on the other side of the ball.
In this graph, we have compared key passes and progressive passes amongst all the full-backs who played 500 minutes or more in the Women’s Championship this season. We have picked these attributes as they are good indicators of the player’s ability to progress the ball and be creative on the ball.
Again, Brown is one of the strongest performers in both categories. She averages the sixth-most key passes per 90 at 0.32. In addition to this, her ball progression numbers are the highest amongst all full-backs in the division, averaging 10.89 per 90.
This makes Brown an asset when her side is in possession, as well as the aforementioned defensive attributes, which make her a well-balanced full-back. She is still only 23 years old and has her peak performance years ahead of her.
Laila Harbert, 17 (Watford) – central midfielder
During the 2023/24 Women’s Championship season, Laila Harbert played for Watford on a loan from Arsenal. Despite playing for a Watford team that finished bottom of the table and struggled for large parts of the season, Harbert was still able to shine and perform at a high level in her 1190 minutes of first-team football.
This graph compares the progressive passing numbers of all the midfielders in the Women’s Championship this season. We did this because progressive passing is a vital aspect of a central midfielder’s game, with them being integral to linking the side together and progressing attacks.
This graph indicates that despite being the youngest player in the division, Harbert actually averaged the most progressive passes per 90 of any other player in the division, averaging 8.09. Her accuracy was 65.42%, which again puts her amongst the top performers in the division.
This goes to show the quality that Harbert already possesses and is going to be able to refine over the coming years as she develops into a deep midfielder.
Along with needing to progress the attacks from deep positions, midfielders — particularly defensive midfielders — also have a vital role to play on the defensive side of the ball, which Harbert was able to demonstrate on a number of occasions.
In this graph, we compared all Women’s Championship players who completed 500 minutes or more. The statistics we highlighted were the number of duels per 90 and the success rate of these duels. We did this to demonstrate defensive output and efficiency.
Harbert, indicated by the pink dot, is again one of the leading performers in the division. She averages 9.3 defensive duels per 90 minutes at a success rate of 74.8%, which puts her amongst the top ten midfield performers in this category and the twenty-first best performer in the whole division.
All this combines with being an asset on both sides of the ball. At the age of 17, she was already ready to become a WSL deep midfielder, and she will only develop and evolve in the future.
Whilst potentially not ready yet to break into the first team at a star-studded Arsenal team, she could certainly make a difference to another side in the WSL next season as she continues her development.
Isobel Goodwin, 21 (Sheffield Utd) – centre forward
Having come through the youth system at Aston Villa, Isobel Goodwin has had a stellar 2023/24 campaign which amassed her scoring 15 goals, which was the second highest of any player in the league, only one behind Elise Hughes, who played for league champions Crystal Palace.
Now let’s look at what makes Goodwin such an effective player which could translate into the WSL.
The first place to start is to look at Goodwin’s goal output by comparing her xG per 90 and goals per 90 with all other players who completed 500 minutes or more this season.
What you can see is Goodwin is far and away leading the away with her averaging an xG of 0.7 per 90. In addition to this, she is still exceeding her xG with an average of 0.77 goals per game.
Having highlighted Goodwin’s goal threat, the next aspect to look at is how efficient she has been in front of goal. We will do this by comparing the number of shots taken per 90 with her goal conversion percentage.
Again, Goodwin is one of the leading performers, particularly amongst those who take a high number of shots per game, averaging 3.34 shots per 90 at a conversion rate of 24.19%.
This all goes to show why she is averaging nearly a goal a game. She scores, on average, just over once every four shots, and given that she takes 3.34 shots per 90 minutes, you can see why she’s scoring so frequently.
Having demonstrated Goodwin’s threat in front of goal, you may think she is just a goal scorer who doesn’t engage with the other aspects of centre-forward play. Here we aim to shine a light on the impact she can have in general play.
To do this, we have compared progressive runs to a number of touches in the box. The logic is twofold: Progressive runs indicate the ability to drive forward on the ball and break opposition lines, while a number of touches in the box indicates the ability to get on the ball in the box and regularly be in dangerous positions.
As you can see, she is a top performer in terms of progressive runs per 90 at 2.64, the seventh highest in the division. This makes her a useful target in hold-up play, as she can carry the ball forward and progress attacks effectively.
Then, if you look at touches in the box, she averages 5.5 per 90, the second highest in the division. This shows her ability to get into dangerous positions, with the threat of being in the box being higher than anywhere else on the pitch.
This demonstrates that Goodwin’s game has multiple dimensions, which enable her to be an effective centre forward whose game could translate into the WSL. At the young age of 21, there’s room to develop her game even further.
Lily Crosthwaite, 21 (Durham) – right winger
Having made her Durham debut in 2020, Lily Crosthwaite has cemented her position as an integral part of the Durham side this season, playing 1393 minutes.
One aspect that makes Crosthwaite so interesting is her versatility. At various points of the season, she plays at right-back, left-wing, right-wing, and centre-forward, as this heatmap above demonstrates.
The first aspect of Crosthwaite’s game that makes her so effective is her ability on the ball. As such, we have compared relative dribbles per 90 with progressive runs per 90 amongst all players in the league who completed 500 minutes or more this Women’s Championship season.
As you can see, Crosthwaite is one of the leading performers in this aspect, with her averaging 7.95 dribbles per 90, which is the third highest in the division. Not only is she attempting a high volume of dribbles, but she is efficient when doing so, completing her dribbles at a rate of 56.1%.
In addition to her ability to beat opponents in the dribble, Crosthwaite is also averaging 3.23 progressive runs per 90 minutes, the second highest in the division. This means that she not only takes on opponents in one-on-one situations but also drives the team forward in attack.
Having looked at Crosthwaite’s ability on the ball to take on opponents, let’s take a look at the kind of impact she is able to have once she has progressed the ball. We will do this by looking at xA per 90 and the number of passes into the penalty area per 90, both of which are strong indicators of creativity.
Although not at the top of the leaderboard amongst creators, she is still amongst the top 10% of players in the division and, as a result, is certainly able to be an effective contributor to this aspect of the game. With her averaging an xA of 0.16 per 90 and an average of 3.04 passes to the penalty area per 90. You can see how she is an effective creator.
As you can see, Crosthwaite could be an effective player at the WSL level due to her ability to take on and beat opponents. Still, at only 21 years of age, she has time to develop her ability to be even more effective at creating as she looks to refine and evolve her game.
Conclusion
In this data analysis, we have outlined four players we think are ready to make the jump from Women’s Championship to WSL next season. However, there are bound to be a number of other players who make the step up and prove to be effective WSL players for years to come.
