As it does every year, the Professional Footballers’ Association of England named the players of the year. Premier League top scorer Erling Haaland came away empty-handed this time – team-mate Phil Foden is Player of the Year
In contrast to the previous year, when Erling Haaland scored 52 goals in his debut season for Manchester City, the Norwegian “only” scored 38 in his second year. 27 of them were still enough to top the English Premier League, but the trophy for England’s Footballer of the Year was snatched away from him by a team-mate.
Phil Foden was named Man of the Year by the PFA, the English Professional Footballers’ Association. The 24-year-old, who won the English championship with Manchester City for the fourth time in a row, scored 19 times as an attacking midfielder and also shone with eight assists for his teammates. Haaland and Spaniard Rodri, who also plays for the Skyblues, were joined on the final shortlist by Martin Odegaard (Arsenal FC), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) and ex-Citizen Cole Palmer (Chelsea FC).
Palmer named Young Player of the Year
Palmer, arguably the only bright spot at an otherwise consistently disappointing Chelsea FC, did not go away empty-handed on Tuesday evening. The 22-year-old, who scored 22 goals in addition to 11 assists in the Premier League and is therefore close behind Haaland in the goalscoring charts, was named best young player.
In addition to his strong Premier League season, the PFA mentioned Palmer’s strong performances at the European Championship, where he scored England’s equalizer in the final against Spain. This was another reason why he came out on top in the field of participants with last year’s winner Bukayo Saka (Arsenal FC) as well as Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho (both Manchester United).
Vice-champion trumps Chelsea trio
The PFA also named the best female player of the year. Here, too, the winner plays for Manchester City – although the Citizens missed out on the championship by a wafer-thin margin. Chelsea FC won the league on goal difference, but the Blues’ trio of Erin Cuthbert, Niamh Charles and Lauren James came away empty-handed at the awards ceremony.
In Khadija Shaw, the top scorer of the past season triumphed, scoring 21 of City’s 61 goals – in just 18 of 22 possible appearances. She scored three trebles and also set up three goals. This meant that her team-mates Lauren Hemp and Yui Hasegawa were also left out in the cold. The Young Player of the Year award went to Grace Clinton, who was loaned to Tottenham Hotspur by Manchester United last season.
