Sunday 23 April 2017

My 2016/17 Premier League Young Player Of The Year, Player Of The Year And Team Of The Year



DISCLAIMER: All stats accurate at time of publishing.


The 2016/17 Premier League season is, sadly, coming to a close.

We've seen the champions (Leicester) fall from grace, Manchester United cling onto sixth with the most pointless winning streak in Premier League history and Chelsea regain their place among the league's elite.

Around this time of the year, players are nominated for the Player of the Year award, Young Player of the Year award and the prestigious Team of the Year, which was announced on Thursday.

With this in mind, I will be putting together my Team of the Year.

PFA Premier League team of the year

The official PFA Team of the Year.


Before this though, I'm going to detail my picks for Young Player and Player of the Year.



PFA Young Player of The Year

 Nominees: Dele Alli (Tottenham), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Michael Keane (Burnley), Jordan Pickford (Sunderland) and Leroy Sane (Manchester City).
My Pick: Romelu Lukaku.

As of writing, Lukaku is the Premier League top goalscorer, with 24 Premier League goals.


Whilst his goalscoring have captured the headlines and linked him to Bayern Munich, Borrusia Dortmund, Chelsea and many others, it's not just him finding the back of the net that should land him the PFA Young Player of the Year.

He's a completely different player from 12 months ago and has massively improved his link-up play to double up as a target-man as well as the marksman that he's renowned for being.

Many will say that he's not a complete striker and whilst I agree with this, he's definitely the most improved striker in the league and if he is going to be moving on from the Premier League this summer should be given an award for his improvement over the past season and how crazy it is that he's become Everton's top goalscorer in the Premier League a few months before his 24th Birthday.


PFA Player of The Year

 Nominees: Eden Hazard (Chelsea), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal). Harry Kane (Tottenham) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United).

My Picks: N'Golo Kante.

N'Golo Kante has been the absolute rock of the past year and a half.

From winning the league last season with Leicester, which still baffles me almost a year later, the Frenchman has gone from an under-the-radar signing by then Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri to the best defensive midfielder in the league.

When trying to sum up how good Kante is, without referencing a meme or bombarding you with stats, the best way I can summarise it is that Leicester plummeted it after he moved to Chelsea for £30 million.

In an age when defending is sort of dying in Football, Kante has single-handily reminded everyone how important a defensive midfielder can be in a team's overall performance.

He deserves to be the PFA Player of The Year due to his insane consistency for both Leicester and Chelsea over the past two seasons. He's the backbone of Chelsea's midfield and I'm sure I'm not the only one that wished they had Kante at their club.




PFA Team of the Year


Goalkeeper: Tom Heaton (Burnley)

Burnley have had a good season and a major reason for this is Tom Heaton.

The England international has made 125 saves in a season in which Burnley have solidified themselves as a mid-table Premier League team. He's also a well-rounded keeper and deserves to be included ahead of rivals such as Chelsea's Thibaut Courtois and Manchester United's David De Gea.
Right-Back: Seamus Coleman (Everton)

 The Everton defender has been vital in Ronald Koeman’s first season at Goodison Park, constantly getting forward and making solid tackles, and whilst he won’t play the start of next season in August (due to his leg break that he suffered back in March), there’s no doubt that he’s been quality this season.




Centre-Back: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham)

 This season hasn’t really seen many top defensive performances, as counter-attacking and fast-paced Football, but Toby Alderweireld has been solid at the back of the best team in the league, in my opinion at least. Though he may not be the most prominent name when thinking about the Team of the Year.




Centre-Back: Michael Keane (Burnley)

A second Burnley player in my Team of the Year. Didn’t think I’d be writing that back in August.

Michael Keane is a promising young defender who does the basics right and has the potential to become a top-class overall defender and despite not being the most dominate figure this season, with David Luiz and Gary Cahill being preferred in the official team of the year, he’s my pick for centre-back of the season.

Left-Back: Marco Alonso (Chelsea)

Earlier in the season, Nathan Ake played really well for Bournemouth early into his loan spell from Chelsea.
So well that Antonio Conte recalled Ake from his loan spell.
Then Marco Alonso turned up.

The Spanardiard suddenly became the best left-back in the league, bombing forward with precision and became the catalyst for Conte’s 3-4-3 formation. His importance was proven by his absence in Chelsea’s 2-0 away loss to Manchester United and it’s slightly baffling how Rose was selected ahead of him.




Right-Winger: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Liverpool have had a good first season under Jurgen Klopp, despite where they finish, and a big part of this has been down to Sadio Mane.

Whilst the Merseyside club do have Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino, the Senegal international has been instrumental for Liverpool this season and made an average side look brilliant at certain points of the season. Despite not been ruled for the season after sustaining a knee injury in the Merseyside Derby, Mane has been class.  
Midfielder: Dele Alli (Tottenham)

Pre-November, Dele Alli wasn’t great.
Post-November, Dele Alli has been amazing.

The England international went on a fantastic run of form, including three braces in a row against Southampton, Watford and Chelsea. He’s currently scored 16 league goals and if he had been on top form from mid-August, there’s no doubt he would have been my choice for Player of the Year.




Midfielder: N'Golo Kante (Chelsea)

I've already mentioned Kante once in this article so I'll keep it short and sweet: Best defensive midfielder in the league (and maybe the World?...) and should win Player of the Year.
Left-Wing: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Hazard had a shocking season last year. It was so bad that his only memorable moment was equalising against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge around this time last year to win the league... for Leicester.

Anyway, the Belgian has drastically returned to form this year and currently has 14 league goals and five assists.

He might not be favourite to win Player of the Year but he's definitely improved under Conte and will be a force to be reckoned with next season.


Striker: Romelu Lukaku (Everton)

Like with Kante, I've already mentioned Lukaku once before in this article so again I'll keep it short and sweet: Most clinical finisher in the league and will most likely move away from the Premier League in the summer.




Striker: Harry Kane (Tottenham)

Harry Kane was dubbed a one season wonder by many fans.

Yet three seasons, Kane is still on banging with 20 league goals as of writing.

The England international has blossomed as Spurs' focal point and has proven he can score any type of goal to make him arguably the best striker in the league.

Game on game, Kane looks to have grown even more intelligent with his passing and shooting in order to get the most out of every attacking opportunity.

It's likely that he'd be top goalscorer in the league if it wasn't for a recent foot injury but Kane has undoubtedly had a remarkable season in cementing Tottenham among the top two teams in the country,








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