Football stars from Manchester City, Phil Foden and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, have earned the distinguished titles of men’s and women’s player of the year, as decided during the Professional Footballers’ Association awards that took place on Tuesday. Foden, at only 24 years old, played a crucial role in the City’s fourth continuous Premier League win by scoring 19 goals and providing eight assists. On the other hand, Jamaican player Bunny Shaw topped the Women’s Super League as the highest scorer with 21 goals, despite City losing the league to Chelsea due to goal difference.
Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer received accolades as the men’s PFA young player of the year, overtaken only by Erling Haaland of Manchester City in the Premier League scoring charts with 22 successful goals and added 11 assists to his tally. The women’s counterpart award went to Manchester United’s Grace Clinton, following her stint at Tottenham. Though the Spurs were struggling, Clinton contributed four goals and four assists in 20 matches of the Women’s Super League.
Serial winners of the PFA Merit award included Fara Williams, the most decorated England player with a record 172 caps and 40 goals to her name. Williams battled homelessness during her stellar career and mentioned in an interview with the Big Issue last year that she had lived in hostels for seven years.
An equal share of glory went to Dean Lewington, who shattered the EFL record by playing his 771st match for MK Dons in December. Lewington, who kick-started his career in 2003 when the club was still known as Wimbledon, acted as caretaker manager of MK Dons twice, in 2021 and 2022.
Recently recruited to West Ham, Crysencio Summerville earned the title of Championship player of the year.
Summerville had an impressive campaign with Leeds, scoring 21 times across all tournaments, but unfortunately, his efforts couldn’t quite get the team from Yorkshire to the Premier League, as they fell short in the previous season’s play-off final.
Meanwhile, last season’s League One standout player was Alfie May, currently playing for Birmingham. He topped the league’s goal-scoring chart with a commendable 23 goals for Charlton.
In the League Two category, Notts County’s winger, Jodi Jones, snatched the accolade based on his extraordinary performance on the pitch. He set a new English league record for most assists with 24 to his name for the Magpies in their first season back in the EFL since the 2018-19 season.