The 2020/21 season is all wrapped up, with Brentford the final team to win promotion to the top flight and preparation for the next season have already begun. However, the Premier League awards were recently handed out, recognising the player and manager of the season, the goal of the season, and the young player of the season.
There was very stiff competition this past season, but Ruben Dias, Pep Guardiola, Erik Lamela and Phil Foden took home the respective trophies. Here is a breakdown of the winners and their awards.
Player of the Season
The Player of the Season award was actually a bit of a surprise to some. Ruben Dias was the winner in his first season in the Premier League. A player with incredible talent who plays an exciting game, beating out players like Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Bruno Fernandes, Mason Mount, Mo Salah and Thomas Soucek.
Considering he was the only defender on the list, and players like Fernandes and Salah contributing a ton by themselves to their respective teams, Dias being crowned the winner was definitely not expected.
However, he was incredible in defence for Man City. he was also easily the best defender for City this past season. He was first in shots blocked, first in completed clearances, first in headed clearances, second aerial duels won, and second passes completed. He also scored a cheeky goal and to step up the way he did in his first season was immense to see.
Manager of the Season
The Manager of the Season award was sort of wrapped up long before the end of the season. Once City had a substantial lead at the top of the table, only one man was going to take home the award, even though there were a few contenders who definitely had a shot.
Pep Guardiola beat out very strong competitors in the form of David Moyes, Marcello Bielsa, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Brendon Rodgers. However, being the manager of the most dominant side in the league wrapped the award up for Pep.
This is Pep’s third Manager of the Season award in 4 years. This was a certainty considering the manager who wins the League is usually the manager that wins the Manager of the Season award too.
Goal of the Season
Goal of the season is where things got quite controversial for some observers and fans of the game. The award went to Erik Lamela for his Rabona goal against Arsenal, however, there were a couple of goals that some say deserved the award more.
Some others that stood out were the goals by Manuel Lanzini against Spurs, Liverpool’s and Mo Salah’s incredible team goal against West Ham, Jesse Lingard's fantastic solo run and finish against Wolves and Sebastian Haller’s bicycle kick against Crystal Palace.
While Lamela’s Rabona was most definitely a well executed goal with a technique you rarely see being pulled off, many fans and pundits have said that Manuel Lanzini was robbed, and that his goal deserved the award.
It was an outside of the right foot rocket from beyond the box, a goal that didn’t completely come out of nowhere, but it was purely technique and strength of shot that put it in the back of the net, as opposed to Lamela’s goal which, in many ways, had a lot of luck involved.
Young Player of the Season
Another category that caused a small amount of uproar was that of Young Player of the Season. Phil Foden took home the award, and rightly so in the eyes of many, but he did have some seriously stiff competition that were just as deserving.
Bukayo Saka rose up as a leading light for Arsenal, even though he is one of the youngest players in the squad. Mason Mount had his best season ever for Chelsea, and while it wouldn’t influence the Premier League awards, he did win a Champions League medal.
Ruben Dias also found himself nominated for the award, but was almost definitely not going to win the both Player and Young Player of the Season awards. Illan Mislier, the young Leeds keeper was a surprise nominee, but was a fantastic player considering being so young on such a huge stage.
However, Foden had an immense season for the Champions. He finally lived up to the hype that had been surrounding him for a couple of seasons now, as well as getting the game time he deserved.
He was part of the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season, as well as being a nominee for the PFA Player of the Year. he scored goals, assisted regularly, and is now one of the pillars of England as they’re about to start their Euro 2020 campaign.
While there were some surprises in this season's nominees and winners pool, it is actually easier to say that all nominees in all the categories would have been deserving winners. This past season was full of incredible goals, even better managers and players and was one of the best seasons of football ever.
The Premier League always seems to get better and better each season, even though the players, managers and teams change, the quality never dips, and we can't wait for the 2021-22 season to kick off.