Wycombe Wanderers forward Richard Kone named as our League One player of the season: ‘Even as I was signing the contract to join the club, I was like “I’m going to wake up soon!”’

FourFourTwo have unveiled our annual list of the top 50 footballers in the EFL – and Wycombe Wanderers striker Richard Kone has been voted as this season’s top player in League One.The list is a tradition that has been going for 20 years – every season since 2005, FFT unveils its top 50, chosen thanks to a poll of fans of all 72 Football League clubs.Norwich City’s Borja Sainz has been named as the best player in the EFL this season, while Dan Crowley of MK Dons was chosen as the finest footballer in League Two.

Richard Kone wins the League One vote Richard Kone (Image credit: Getty Images)For Kone, progress has been swift since he became a professional footballer for the first time, only 15 months ago.In January 2024, the 21-year-old joined Wycombe from Athletic Newham in the ninth tier of English football, but now tops the League One scoring chart with 18 goals this season.Matt Bloomfield (Image credit: Getty Images)Kone showed promise with four goals in the second half of last season, as the Chairboys finished 10th in the League One table, but his superb form has driven the club to a surprise automatic promotion tilt this time around.



They currently sit third in the League One table, three points behind Wrexham with a game in hand.Kone even reportedly attracted a £7m bid from Luton Town during the winter transfer window – Matt Bloomfield is now manager at Kenilworth Road, having departed Wycombe earlier in the season.Kone’s journey has been unorthodox.

There was no academy football, and he first came to the UK as a 17-year-old representing the Ivory Coast at the 2019 Homeless World Cup.(Image credit: Cameron Howard/Getty Images)After impressing in non-league Kone, trialled with Colchester, Wycombe and Brentford, but until his visa arrived, he couldn’t be signed. Then came the deal to join the Chairboys.

“Even I was signing the Wycombe contract, I was like, ‘I’m going to wake up soon!’” Kone tells FFT.Togetherness has been key to their great season. “We’re all fighting for each other here, we love each other, and I think that’s one of the best things we can do to achieve what we want to achieve,” he says.

“We’re friends as well as team-mates. We know what the prize at the end is, and we push ourselves.”You can read the full interview with Kone in the new issue of FourFourTwo magazine, out now.

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