21 Under 21: Ronnie Edwards (Peterborough)
Episode #12 | George Elek and Ali Maxwell list the most outstanding young players in the EFL.
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“A Premier League defender in waiting” — George Elek
Ronnie Edwards
Peterborough — League One, 2023/24:
Born: 28 March 2003
Position: Centre-back
League Appearances: 45
League Starts: 45
⏫ A class above?
An England youth player who isn’t too Posh to push at the talent ceiling, Ronnie Edwards represents that rarefied class of player who is in demand across the entire footballing pyramid. A class above? Maybe.
Famously, Heinz has 57 varieties. None of those are more in vogue than a ball-playing centre-back, which is not simply the flavour of the month, but a flavour of the recent past, present and future. And Edwards is the next disruptive brand name on the shelf.
He’s mustard. Passing short or long, progressive and smart, he has the prerequisite ingredients that clubs within and beyond the EFL are looking for. Edwards is easy on the eye, with the data to back up what you catch at first glance: a player who can move with the ball and can be trusted to look after it.
Can Peterborough hold onto him? If there’s one club that can, it’s Posh. But this is a player capable of stepping out of League One and up to, and probably beyond, the Championship.
📈 At a glance
Pizza charts informed by match data. Each chart rates a chosen player from 0-99 across different metrics (e.g. Dribbles) according to their “percentile rank”. A 75 score shows a player outperforming 75% of other players in the dataset. Each dataset is position-specific. Negative metrics are reversed. [Credit: Riley Roberts.]
▶️ Watch: Episode 12
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