Kevin De Bruyne will eye a hat-trick of PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards this term, but only one of the five recipients between 2012 and 2017 remain at the club they won it with.
Manchester City maestro De Bruyne has taken the gong in each of the past two seasons to end Liverpool’s successes. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk had won the honour for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaigns, as the Reds and Citizens emerged as the forces to beat.
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Salah swept up the individual honours following a remarkable maiden term at Anfield after a £34m summer transfer from Roma. The Egyptian struck 32 goals and gave 11 assists over 36 Premier League appearances, along with 11 and five over 15 Champions League games.
The Professional Footballers’ Association joined the Football Writers’ Association, Premier League and Football Supporters’ Federation in naming Salah as their Player of the Year for 2017/18. He was also the PFA Fan’s Player of the Year and is the last to win all five at once.
Van Dijk added the 2018/19 Premier League and Football Supporters’ Federation’s awards to his PFA Players’ Player of the Year title. De Bruyne, meanwhile, won the Premier League and PFA awards in 2019/20, before retaining the Professional Footballers’ Association title.
No player has yet been PFA Players’ Player of the Year thrice since its inception in 1973/74. Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have won it twice like De Bruyne. But only one winner from 2012 to ‘17 is still at the side they did so at.
N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) – 2016/17
N’Golo Kante left Leicester City following their historic Premier League title to join Chelsea in 2016 for £30m. The Frenchman would go on to retain his English top-flight crown during his first term at Stamford Bridge, whilst receiving individual honours for his performances.
The FWA and Premier League joined the PFA in giving Kante their Player of the Year gongs for 2016/17. He started all 35 of his top-flight appearances that year under Antonio Conte.
Kante is now the only PFA Player of the Year between 2012 and 2017 still with the club he won it at. However, his west London future is uncertain, as the Daily Mail report the Blues may sacrifice the 31-year-old to avoid Kante entering the final year of his contract in June.
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester) – 2015/16
Riyad Mahrez was another to jump ship at the King Power Stadium with a Premier League winners’ medal with Leicester, but he remained with the Foxes until 2018. Manchester City then paid £60m, which was their club-record sum until they paid £100m for Jack Grealish.
The PFA considered Mahrez’s role in Leicester’s Premier League title worthy of their Player of the Year award. He also clinched the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year title, following scoring 17 and assisting 10 goals in 37 games. The Algerian has added two top-flight titles for City.
Like Kante with Chelsea, Mahrez enters the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium this summer. Foot Mercato also report the Blues, AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid are monitoring his situation, as discussions over new terms for the winger are not progressing.
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – 2014/15
Eden Hazard bagged a hat-trick of individual awards in 2014/15 after helping Chelsea lift a Premier League and EFL Cup double. The Belgian won the PFA, FWA and Premier League’s Player of the Year awards after offering 14 goals and 10 assists across 38 top-flight outings.
He would later add a second Premier League crown with Kante in 2016/17 and the FA Cup in 2018. Real Madrid then came calling in 2019 and secured an £89m transfer, which could exceed £150m after add-ons. But several injuries have ravished Hazard’s career in Spain.
Now, Los Blancos are prepared to sell Hazard for €40m (£33.5m) to shift his €30m-a-year (£486k-a/w) gross wage, per AS. Additionally, Foot Mercato report Arsenal have held talks with Real Madrid over signing Hazard. But the 31-year-old is fixed on staying this summer.
Luis Suarez (Liverpool) – 2013/14
Liverpool ran Manchester City to within two points for the Premier League title in 2013/14 thanks to Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan scored 31 goals and assisted 17 in 33 games under Brendan Rodgers, to win that season’s Golden Boot with 10 more goals than anyone else.
His efforts that season also ensured the forward clinched a raft of individual awards at the end of the campaign. Suarez lifted the PFA, PFA Fan’s, FWA, Premier League and Football Supporters’ Federation’s Player of the Year awards. He was the first to win the FSF’s gong.
Suarez did not return to Anfield the following term after sealing a £75m move to Barcelona instead. He would go on to win the Champions League in his first season at the Camp Nou, plus four La Liga crowns, four Copa del Rey titles and the Golden Boot in 2015/16 with 40.
Barcelona eventually sold Suarez to Atletico Madrid for just £5.5m in 2020, having entered the final year of his contract. The 35-year-old would make the Blaugrana pay for their call, though, as he helped the Colchoneros win La Liga with 21 goals in his first year in Madrid.
Now, though, he will leave the Wanda Metropolitano when the 2021/22 season ends with his contract expiring. Steven Gerrard is tracking his former Liverpool teammates’ situation in view of a free transfer to Aston Villa for the star he once called ‘magic’, per the Express.
Gareth Bale (Tottenham) – 2012/13
Bale is the last one to win the PFA Young Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards in the same season. He did so in 2012/13, alongside the Premier League and FWA’s titles, after reclaiming the PFA Player of the Year gong from Robin van Persie with Arsenal.
The Welshman swept an individual quadruple of gongs after providing Spurs 21 goals and nine assists in the Premier League. His form that season led to a then-world-record £85m move to Real Madrid, who will release the winger this summer when his contract expires.
Tottenham are monitoring Bale’s situation in view of a potential permanent return, after spending 2020/21 in north London on loan. That’s according to Sport, who cite Spurs with Newcastle and Rangers. But the Spanish publication suggest Cardiff are a likely destination.
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