EFL ones to watch: Carlisle’s Owen Moxon – an assist king to rival Kevin De Bruyne

This article is part of The Athletic’s EFL ‘Ones to Watch’ series for the 2023-24 season, profiling 10 of the most exciting players in the Championship, League One and League Two.

Having already featured the likes of Bali Mumba, Jack Currie and Noah Chilvers, this instalment focuses on Carlisle United midfielder Owen Moxon. Before the Sheffield Wednesday vs Southampton season opener on August 4, we will feature players from all divisions of the EFL.

It is not that long ago that Owen Moxon could not even call himself a full-time footballer.

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Just over 14 months on from his time as a part-time UPS delivery driver and part-time player at Annan Athletic in the Scottish fourth division, the 25-year-old will start this season in League One with hometown club Carlisle United.

His progress since making the move south in June 2022 has been impressive — even more so considering he ended the campaign lifting the League Two play-off winners’ trophy at Wembley and was part of the division’s team of the season.

The central midfielder has taken a circuitous route to representing the city where he was born and raised. First at Queen of the South and Gretna 2008 and then at Annan, where he scored 15 goals in 149 appearances. Since signing for Paul Simpson, he has thrived at the heart of things at Brunton Park, making fast progress in his first season in English football as he registered six goals and 17 assists in 54 games.

“We saw enough of him when he was playing at Annan Athletic to see that he certainly had the ability,” says Simpson. “You then have the challenge of seeing whether he could cope with full-time training and the step up in level from where he was to playing in League Two.

“The pleasing thing is he has shown a fantastic attitude, a willingness to listen and to learn and he just fitted in. We benefitted from the fact he’s from Carlisle and he’s a homely lad. He likes being here and he feels comfortable in the environment and that’s a big thing for somebody like Moxy. As well as he did for us, Carlisle United as a football club did really well as a place for him to be able to show his ability.

“He’s still got his family in the area. He felt comfortable with it and that’s where he’s benefitted because he’s had that security. We want to keep him around here to keep that sense of security and for him to carry on showing what he can do. He’s still got a lot of things he needs to improve on, but that’s true of every player at this level and we are hopefully giving him the right place to develop even further.”

👀 Here’s what @owenmoxonn’s first goal for the club looked like last night after great work from @JackStretton4 👇

— Carlisle United FC 🆙 (@officialcufc) September 28, 2022

Moxon was one of a number of Cumbrians in the squad, as well as Simpson himself, who were part of Carlisle’s dramatic penalty shootout win over Stockport County in the play-off final that means the club will return to the third tier after nine seasons away.

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His passing range and ability on the ball was crucial and data from Opta shows he was inside the top 15 players in the league for expected assists (a measure of pass quality, showing the likelihood that a pass will be a primary assist) from open play with 0.17 per 90 minutes.

His ability to progress the ball up the pitch and see key passes was vital to Carlisle’s success. Moxon registered a top-20 number of chance-creating carries (of five metres or more), with 38 in all. He also had the second-highest tally in League Two for assist-ending carries, with five, behind Swindon Town’s Remeao Hutton (on seven). His decision-making on the ball helped him to stand out last season.

Carlisle rejected a bid from a fellow League One side last week, with the club releasing a statement saying they had offered the talented midfielder a new, improved contract.

And, as the Cumbrian side prepare for the step up to League One, Simpson believes Moxon can improve further:

“His physical strength, his physique and running power are real attributes,” he says. “But then his awareness of players making runs and his ability to find the pass was a real big strength he had last season.

“The area he still needs to improve on is being a bit more consistent with his use of the ball and awareness of the things around him, he needs to keep working on that. But those positives are the things we saw when he was playing up in Scotland. His set piece delivery was good and that’s what we’ll continue to get him to develop even further – so, hopefully, in 12 to 18 months time, he’ll be ready to go and play at an even higher level.”

Moxon is proving a point after being released from United as a 16-year-old, where he was formerly a fan, ball boy and an academy player. His 17 assists in all competitions last season were the most of any player in the EFL and were beaten across English football only by Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne — not a bad tally, but perhaps an appropriately high one for a former delivery driver.

“We know at Carlisle United that we are not going to get the finished article, that we have got to work with them and we have got to work on the training ground and give them the match minutes to be able to develop,” says Simpson.

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“In the ideal world, what we want to do as a football club is take ourselves to a higher level so we don’t lose players easily. We are in a fortunate position: financially we’re doing OK, we don’t have to sell players, but there will come a point somewhere down the line where a player might need to move on. At the moment we feel we are the best place for Owen and, going into next season, if he can have a really strong season with us in League One then who knows where it can go from there.

“We want him to help us have a good season in League One and see where it takes everybody.”

(Top photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)