Manchester City enjoyed a successful night at the Professional Footballers’ Association awards as Phil Foden and Khadija “Bunny” Shaw were crowned PFA players’ player of the year by their peers.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and the Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton – who spent last season on loan at Tottenham – picked up the PFA’s young player of the year awards at the annual ceremony.
Foden, who also won the Football Writers’ award in May, became the fourth City player in the past five years, and the first Englishman since Wayne Rooney in 2010, to win the award after his 19 goals and eight assists helped the club to secure a record-breaking fourth consecutive Premier League title.
The 24-year-old edged out his teammates Erling Haaland and Rodri to claim the prize, with Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard, Palmer and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins also shortlisted in the top six.
Shaw was instrumental in City’s WSL title battle with the eventual champions Chelsea as she finished top scorer in the league with 21 goals – including three hat-tricks in just 18 appearances.
The 27-year-old Jamaica international saw off competition from her teammates Lauren Hemp and Yui Hasegawa alongside the Chelsea trio of Erin Cuthbert, Niamh Charles and Lauren James to pick up the award.
Clinton, who made her senior international debut for England in February, was voted the women’s young player of the year after playing a starring role during her loan spell at Spurs from Manchester United, scoring four goals and assisting another four in 20 appearances.
The 21-year-old edged out James, Aggie Beever-Jones, Khiara Keating, Maya Le Tissier and Jess Park.
Palmer enjoyed a stunning debut season at Stamford Bridge which saw him rack up 22 goals and 11 assists as he won the award ahead of two of his international teammates Bukayo Saka and Kobbie Mainoo, with Alejandro Garnacho, João Pedro and Michael Olise the other nominees.
However, the Chelsea winger did not make the PFA’s team of the year which featured four players from City’s title-winning team while last season’s runners-up Arsenal had five players in the XI.
The veteran MK Dons defender Dean Lewington and the England legend Fara Williams received the men’s and women’s Merit awards for their contributions to the sport.
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Lewington broke the all-time English record for most league appearances for a single club by making his 771st appearance for MK Dons in the 2023-24 campaign. The defender has totalled more than 900 games in all competitions and has won three promotions in his long career.
Williams ended her career as the most capped England player in history, making 177 appearances and scoring 40 goals for the Lionesses over an 18-year period.
In a tradition that started last year, the PFA also handed out individual player prizes for the Championship, League One and League Two.
The former Leeds winger Crysencio Summerville was voted player of the year for the Championship after he spearheaded the club’s ultimately unsuccessful promotion bid, scoring 19 goals and contributing nine assists. The Netherlands Under-21 international earned a summer move to West Ham following his outstanding campaign.
League One’s top scorer Alfie May was voted as the top player in that division after 23 goals for Charlton, while Notts County’s Jodi Jones was League Two’s player of the year.
Source: theguardian.com
