A former Sheffield Wednesday player is now up for an English Football League, Player of the Season award.
The EFL 2023/24 nominations are out, and unsurprisingly, no Sheffield Wednesday players feature for a Player of the Season award.
Will Vaulks has been nominated for the EFL Player in the Community award, though.
And if the nominations were made at the end of the season and Danny Rohl went on to keep Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, he’d surely come into consideration.
In the Championship, Kieran McKenna at Ipswich Town, Liam Rosenior at Hull City, and Daniel Farke at Leeds United are the managers up for the Manager of the Season award.
Then Crysencio Summerville at Leeds United, Sammie Szmodics at Blackburn Rovers, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Leicester City are the players up for the Player of the Season award.
Former Sheffield Wednesday man nominated for League One Player of the Season award
But down in League One, a very familiar name has been nominated for the League One Player of the Season award.
Among the nominees are Harrison Burrows at Peterborough United, Marlon Pack at Portsmouth, and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing at Derby County.
Mendez-Laing left Hillsborough in 2022 when Darren Moore was in charge.
The Guatemalan left as a free agent after rejecting a new contract offer from the Owls, then joining Derby County where he’s flourished under Paul Warne.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing shines for Derby County
This season, the 31-year-old Mendez-Laing has featured 42 times in League One, scoring eight goals and assisting 14 more.
The Rams currently sit in 2nd place of the League One table with four games of the season left to play, currently boasting a four-point gap over Bolton Wanderers in 3rd.
And 22 goal contributions makes Mendez-Laing the joint-most creative player in League One this season.
Charlton Athletic striker Alfie May on 21 goals and one assist is tied with Mendez-Laing as things stand.
Rams boss Paul Warne has described Mendez-Laing as ‘unplayable’ this season.
League One promotion race
As interesting as the Championship relegation and indeed promotion battle has been this season, the fight for promotion from League One has been equally as enticing.
Portsmouth look set to earn automatic promotion with a five-point lead over Derby in 2nd, with Bolton, Peterborough, Barnsley, and Lincoln City the teams currently inside the play-off places.
Though as Sheffield Wednesday fans will know, the top six picture can change in an instance.
Right now though, Rohl and Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping that they’re not having to battle for promotion from League One next season.
They’ll want to be lining up against teams like Pompey and Derby in the Championship next time round, where former players like Mendez-Laing could cause the Owls a lot of problems.
For Sheffield Wednesday, they return to Championship action with a huge crunch match away at QPR this weekend.
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