Samuel Joseph Szmodics

Sammie Szmodics finished the 2023–24 season as the Championship's top scorer. He scored 27 goals for Blackburn Rovers in all competitions, 21 of them in the league. He took the EFL Golden Boot, was named in both the Championship Team of the Season and the PFA Team of the Year, and was voted Blackburn's Player of the Year. In November 2023 he had already won the Championship Player of the Month award.

That season came after a long apprenticeship. Szmodics joined the Colchester United academy in 2002 and stayed until 2013, when he made his first-team debut. He was named the club's Young Player of the Year in 2015, and that autumn he spent a short spell on loan at Braintree Town. The academy side he came through had won the Football League Youth Alliance South East title and the Youth Alliance Cup in 2013–14.

In June 2019 he moved to Bristol City, where he made three appearances. He joined Peterborough United on loan in January 2020, and the move became permanent that September for a fee believed to be over £1 million. In 2020–21 he scored 15 goals in 42 league games as Peterborough won promotion to the Championship. Blackburn signed him in August 2022.

Ipswich Town paid an initial £9 million, plus add-ons, for him in August 2024. In 2026 he went on loan to Derby County, first from February to June. He returned there from August, this time with an obligation to buy.

Szmodics was born in England but plays for the Republic of Ireland, which he qualified for through his grandmother. He turned down interest from Hungary, which came through his grandfather. He made his senior debut against Belgium on 23 March 2024 and has won 12 caps.