Amidst Wycombe Wanderers’ worsening injury crisis in midfield, with Josh Scowen, George Abbott, Ewan Henderson and Magnus Westergaard all out with injuries, and Luke Leahy currently playing through pain to start for the Chairboys.
Only he and Jamie Mullins remain capable of playing deeper, with Alex Lowry offering another option as a 10. Wycombe may need to dig into the market to provide much needed depth at midfield, but also a possible long term option given that both Josh Scowen is 32 and Luke Leahy is 33, while George Abbott is a Tottenham loanee likely to return in the summer.
George McEachran of Grimsby Town would be a suitable solution. The 25-year-old former Chelsea academy player has cut his teeth in League Two with Swindon Town and Grimsby Town, the latter where he has excelled.
He was named Grimsby Town’s Player of the Season for the 2024/25 season having played 44 matches in League Two, 40 of which were starts.
Playing as the deepest midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3, McEachran is solid defensively but it is his passing and possession statistics where he shines.
He manages 71 touches a match, 2.18 fouls drawn per match, 43.6 passes per match (82.6% success rate) and 2.68 long balls per match (44.5% accuracy rate). He ranks in the top 5% of League Two midfielders for passes made, top 16% for long passes made, and top 7% for progressive passes made. In essence, McEachran is excellent at finding space for passes and getting the ball into good areas for attackers.
Notably, this doesn’t entail any significant weaknesses in his defensive actions. He makes 2.58 tackles per match, 1.16 interceptions per match and 5.67 ball recoveries per match, all above average for his position. Combined with his duel rate being in the top 14% for midfielders, make McEachran a very promising prospect for Wycombe.
Even better for the Chairboys, McEachran signed a two year deal with Grimsby in 2024, making him a free agent this summer, and their manager confirmed that McEachran is hesitant to sign a new deal with the club.
As such, the Mariners could be tempted to sell now to avoid losing him on a free in a few months time. With the club sat in midtable, 5 points off the promotion battle, a fee could be welcomed to allow the team to strengthen for a promotion push.
Whilst he is not League One experienced, McEachran would be a strong addition to the Chairboys team for both the short and long term future of the club, capable of coming in now to make an impact while so many midfielders are injured, but also at 25 providing some long term stability in the position as Wycombe look to grow in the future.
