Declan Rice and Bruno Fernandes are the two frontrunners for Player of the Season. (Image: Getty)
The 2025-26 Premier League season came to an end on Sunday, making history. While Arsenal were crowned champions, arch-rivals Tottenham avoided relegation to West Ham, instead suffering a horrifying fall to the Championship. Elsewhere, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes provided his 21st assist of the season, but the assist was canceled despite debate over whether it should have been an own goal.
United playmaker and Arsenal midfield powerhouse Declan Rice is the main frontrunner for the Player of the Year award, but that’s not the only award we give out. Scroll down to see who was named Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Biggest Mistake of the Season and more…
Player of the season: Bruno Fernandes
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Coach of the Season: Regis Le Bris
Team of the Season: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, O’Reilly. Rice, Anderson. B. Fernandes, Semenyo. Haaland, Igor Thiago
Player of the season signing: Granit Xhaka
Season Flop: Florian Wirtz
Yes, many of his assists were set pieces, but look at the statistics of chances created – Bruno is far better than everyone else. He beat out Declan Rice for me. The manager has a lot of options, but I expected Sunderland to go down, so that means it has to be Le Brice. What a great player Xhaka was. Even if they pull him out, they won’t get Europe. And I expected more from Wirtz. He’s not looking at the fight, but he’s about to defeat Cole Palmer and win the prize no one wanted.
Nico O’Reilly named Young Player of the Season (Image: Getty)
Player of the Season: Antoine Semenyo
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Manager of the season: Unai Emery
Team of the Season: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, O’Reilly. E. Anderson, Szoboszlai, B. Silva. Semenyo, Haaland, Krupi
Player of the Season Contract: Eli Junior Crupi
Season flop: Tottenham Hotspur
Of course Arsenal will get most of the praise, but for me Bournemouth have been one of the standout teams this season. Many would have forgiven them for a mediocre rebuilding campaign after letting go almost their entire defense last summer and star forward Antoine Semenyo in January. Instead, Andoni Iraola led the Cherries to Europe for the first time in the club’s history, a huge achievement.
Regis Le Bris has had a great season as Sunderland manager (Image: Getty)
Player of the season: Bruno Fernandes
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Coach of the Season: Regis Le Bris
Team of the Season: Raya; Szoboszlai, Guehi, Gabriel, O’Reilly. Rice, Anderson. Semenyo, Fernandes. Thiago Haaland
Player of the Season Contract: Senne Ramens
Season flop: Liverpool
The best players don’t have to come from the best teams and Bruno has put United on his back many times this season. In terms of moving up the rankings, nothing compares to the addition of Lamence. Liverpool as a whole have been a total disappointment, but it would feel terrible to leave Szoboszlai out of TOTS, so he slots in at RB in an unconventional formation that deserves a genuine best-of-11 appearance. And Regis Le Bris deserves credit for making countless signings in a campaign that no Sunderland fan could have dreamed of.
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Player of the Season: Declan Rice
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Coach of the Season: Regis Le Bris
Team of the Season: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, O’Reilly. Rice, Fernandes, Xhaka. Semenyo, Haaland, Igor Thiago
Player of the season signing: Granit Xhaka
Season flop: Newcastle United
Declan Rice has to be the player of the season for me. He may not have as many goal contributions as Bruno Fernandes this season, but he’s a Premier League winner! It would be a mistake not to mention the great job Regis Le Bris has done at Sunderland. They started the season as relegation candidates and defied the odds to qualify for the Europa League. Granit Xhaka, who joined in the summer, has contributed greatly to that success and is arguably the best player of the season. The biggest failure would be going to Newcastle United, given last season’s success. Their domestic campaign was a huge failure. Having won the Carabao Cup and qualified for the Champions League, they have suffered a setback despite what many expected to happen next.
Antoine Semenyo had a good season with both Bournemouth and Man City (Image: Getty)
Player of the season: Bruno Fernandes
Young Player of the Season: Eli Junior Crupi
Coach of the Season: Andoni Iraola
Player of the Season Contract: Rayan Cherki
Season Flop: Florian Wirtz
It may seem like I really love Bournemouth, and I probably do, but that’s only because I enjoy seeing it so much. The impact that 19-year-old Eli Crupi Jr. has is such that it’s really hard not to look past his 13 goals this season. It’s never easy to bounce back when you lose your best player in the middle of a season, but it still takes some effort in England, as they didn’t lose a single game in the Premier League under coach Andoni Iraola.
Player of the season: Bruno Fernandes
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Manager of the season: Unai Emery
Team of the Season: Rufus. Szoboszlai, Saliba, Gabriel, O’Reilly. Rice, Casemiro. B. Fernandes, Semenyo. Harland, Doc
Player of the Season Contract: Robin Rufus
Season Flop: Florian Wirtz
I think most surprises happen in TOTS, but I chose three City attackers to shock myself. But player by player, they have been the best in their respective positions this season, and if there was an award for “Most Improved,” it would have gone to Jeremy Doku. He beat Josep Guardiola and finally added the final product that turned him into a world-class winger. Unai Emery was just named manager of the season ahead of Regis Le Bris, having seen his teams collapse domestically so often during his time in Europe. And Villa excels at both. Robin Roofs has single-handedly put Sunderland into games this season when they were at times ineligible. Without him, they wouldn’t have even reached seventh place.
Florian Wirtz has had a disappointing first season at Liverpool (Image: Getty)
Player of the season: Bruno Fernandes
Young Player of the Season: Nico O’Reilly
Coach of the Season: Regis Le Bris
Team of the Season: Raya; Szoboszlai, Saliba, Guehi, O’Reilly. Rice, Anderson. Semenyo, Fernandes. Thiago, Haaland
Player of the season signing: Granit Xhaka
Flop of the season: Liam Rosenier
Even if Roy Keane didn’t agree, there’s no one other than Bruno for the top prize. It’s hard not to recognize the great job that Le Bris has done at the Stadium of Light and without Xhaka we wouldn’t be ready to play in the Europa League next season. Liam’s short spell as Chelsea manager has been a complete car accident, but anyone connected to the club will want to forget about it as soon as possible.
