Yahoo News Kevin De Bruyne and Beth England win PFA player of the year awards
Kevin De Bruyne and Beth England have been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association’s players of the year.
De Bruyne is Manchester City’s first male winner after a he made a record-equalling 20 assists and scored 13 goals in the Premier League. Chelsea’s England scored 21 times in all competitions in a season during which the club won the Women’s Super League and League Cup.
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England is one of six Chelsea players in the PFA’s WSL team of the season – joined by Ann-Katrin Berger, Maren Mjelde, Millie Bright, Magdalena Eriksson and Ji So-yun. The Premier League team was dominated by Liverpool with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mané making the cut.
De Bruyne said: “It’s a huge honour. To be voted for by your colleagues and competitors from other teams who you play against for best player is amazing. It’s strange that I’m the first [male] one at City given all the good players that have played here before and who are still playing here but it’s nice to represent the club. I think it is [the ultimate honour] because you compete against fellow professionals.”
De Bruyne pointed to the trust from his manager, Pep Guardiola. “Most of the time he just lets me be me. He just knows when he gives the orders that I’ll listen. On the other side he gives me a lot of freedom.”
England said: “Thank you to everyone who voted for me. The team cohesion as a group, we fought for everything we had. The girls were tremendous, thankfully we had a great year and hopefully it continues.”
Alexander-Arnold won the award for men’s young player of the season and Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp won the women’s young player prize.
Teams of the year
Premier League Nick Pope (Burnley), Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk (both Liverpool), Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), David Silva (Manchester City), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), Sadio Mané (Liverpool).
Women’s Super League Ann-Katrin Berger, Maren Mjelde (both Chelsea), Leah Williamson (Arsenal), Millie Bright, Magdalena Eriksson (both Chelsea), Caroline Weir (Man City), Kim Little (Arsenal), Ji So-yun, Beth England (both Chelsea), Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal), Chloe Kelly (Man City).
Championship Brice Samba (Nottingham Forest), Luke Ayling, Ben White, Liam Cooper (all Leeds), Joe Bryan (Fulham), Eberechi Eze (QPR), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds), Romaine Sawyers (West Brom), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham), Ollie Watkins, Saïd Benrahma (both Brentford).
League One Marko Marosi, Fankaty Dabo (both Coventry), Michael Ihiekwe (Rotherham), Robert Dickie (Oxford), Joe Jacobsen (Wycombe), Cameron Brannagan (Oxford), Liam Walsh (Coventry), Matt Crooks (Rotherham), Armand Gnanduillet (Blackpool), Ivan Toney (Peterborough), Matt Godden (Coventry).
League Two Alex Palmer (Plymouth), Perry Ng (Crewe), Ben Tozer (Cheltenham), Charlie Goode (Northampton), Randell Williams (Exeter), Antoni Sarcevic, Danny Mayor (both Plymouth), Nicky Adams (Northampton), Charlie Kirk (Crewe), Eoin Doyle, Jerry Yates (both Swindon).
