From 40-minute games to hour-long commercials to slam dunk contests to the unironic use of phrases like ‘Doritos play of the day,’ American sports rituals and awards are sometimes confusing to the uninitiated. are seen
But one thing that has people across the Atlantic cringing is the concept of a ‘Rookie of the Year’ award, rather than a Young Player of the Season gong. It’s a very logical choice that rewards the best newcomer at the elite level, rather than those who have been knocking around for years.
Time to speak up!
Who should be the @TAGHeuer Young Player of the Season?
Vote ➡️ https://t.co/efUQm2q6o8#PLAwards pic.twitter.com/EAS8uZ6iNw
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 7, 2020
You have to say it’s always been a little too logical for English football to nominate 24-year-old Anthony Martial (145 Premier League appearances) for its new Premier League Young Player of the Season award. Hoye continued his work. A proud tradition of not understanding the point of the award for youngsters – Clearly, Martial and his Manchester United team-mate Mason Greenwood do not belong in the same category of young player.
The new standard? They must be under 23 years of age, and cannot start more than ten games in a season in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues (PL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1) – this For example, Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff would be eligible this season (played last season but only started eight times), but Dwight McNeill would not (started 19 times for Burnley last season). .
So without further ado, here are our Premier League Rookies of the Year from the 2012/13 season, using the PFA Young Player of the Year Award as a point of comparison.
Benteke has simply been unstoppable this season / Clive Rose / Getty Images
Perhaps this was the season where the PFA Young Player of the Year award began to say goodbye to any reason or pretense of prestige.
Gareth Bale wasn’t a jolly young whipper-snapper in his third season as a Spurs regular – he was one of the top ten players in the entire world. A full year and a half ago, he took on one of the best rightbacks of the past decade for the proverbial cleaners.
Fortunately, the Premier League had just welcomed a true force of nature, a young Belgian who would take the league by storm and defenders dread the day they face him. Wait, Eden Hazard? No, it’s Christian Benteke.
What followed was a bit more complicated, but a 21-year-old Benteke made football look laughably easy in his first season in the big time, coming from the dugout and scoring 19 league goals in his first campaign, even Left with the great Michu. After his goal scoring.
Spurs didn’t make great decisions around this time, but Eriksen was certainly the best of them / Steve Bardens/Getty Images
Eden Hazard may have been held to somewhat Rookie of the Year standards, but he already had a full season at Chelsea as well as Lille games under his belt.
Ajax academy product Eriksen was coming from a league where, as every pundit likes to remind you, the Premier League football stage is huge, and a hilariously chaotic Spurs to boot. I was getting into setup.
Spurs sold the previous PFA Young Player of the Year for a world record £85 million (a bargain for such a talented youngster), Eriksen was one of the lucrative ‘Magnificent Seven’, a group that included Such bright stars were included. Like Roberto Soldado and Vlad Chirichas.
Eriksen just kicked things off as Spurs entered the Tim Sherwood twilight zone in a truly strange season, starting with a dominant display on debut at home to Norwich and being creative for Spurs at the tender age of 21. Became a force.
Seriously, he was behind the soldier in pecking order / Stu Forster / Getty Images.
Any argument on this? no? good
Believe it or not, it took a combination of Roberto Soldado’s poor form and what can only be described as a protracted begging campaign from Spurs fans to convince Mauricio Pochettino to sign him. Make time-expected cans a permanent fixture for lilywhites.
An incredibly scrappy free-kick winner against Aston Villa later, and a new hero was born at White Hart Lane.
Between a shockingly good performance against Chelsea and a North London derby day winner against Arsenal, Kane has more than returned the faith of his devoted fans, showing that the PFA sometimes gets it right. .
Ellie was her best / Tom Dolott / Getty Images
OK, OK, rumble – this is actually the third Spurs player in a row. But you have to admit, what they lacked in trophies in the last decade, they made up for in talented young players.
Admittedly, there has been some decent competition for Dele this season from Kelechi Iheanacho to current youngster Anthony Martial, but the nutmeg, screaming second striker has been nothing short of a revelation with a bit of a temper.
The highlight of his season, of course, was the ridiculous overhead flick-and-shoot winner against Crystal Palace, a shot that Wayne Hennessey is still rumored to be looking for. Fair play PFA, two years in a row isn’t bad!
Jesus signed for City in January for the 2016/17 season / Catherine Ivel/Getty Images
It’s an undeniably tough one, in no small part because Dele Alli, in what the Americans call his ‘sophomore season’, topped any other young player in the league, scoring 18 goals and seven assists.
It’s not immediately clear who else stands out, although Wilfried Ndidi and Tom Davies have made very solid starts to life in the top flight. It may ultimately pay to somewhat controversially take a leaf out of the NBA’s book this season, where for a while Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans was favored for the Rookie of the Year award. Despite missing 46 of his team’s 65 wickets. – Corona virus games by injury.
Gabriel Jesus only arrived from Palmeiras in January, so it makes sense to pick him over the other young players who have worked so hard to be nominated for my fantasy award. But he also had seven goals and four assists in a ridiculously short span of 650 minutes, so check out the stats!
Is Gomes going to be the steadying force at the back that England so desperately need? / Sean Bottrell / Getty Images
Perhaps one of the most low-key winners, especially as it took the gong away from one of the best individual PL seasons from a winger of any age.
Another point of contention is that the recipient could easily be Gomez’s teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold, who, to be honest, deserves some recognition for the ripple effect he had on the league at such a young age.
But sadly, that’s the way Koki fell apart – Gomes started more often than Trent (which was really around the New Year) and became a key component in a Liverpool defense that eventually Was starting to wise up after losing. A year and a half since the ACL injury.
Get past this guy if you can! / Chloe Knott-Danehouse/Getty Images
Eat on boys. Raheem Sterling has been in the league longer than Burnley… it’s basically Gareth Bale all over again.
The 2018/19 season was a great opportunity to recognize one of the most unique young players the league has seen in years, a defender who simply couldn’t be beat, whether in pace or skill, in a marauding era. A real rarity. back
Instead, Sterling was the chosen man – if you were a defender who had to play against him, but wouldn’t anyone think of defensive-minded right-backs?!
Henderson has been key for Sheffield United/Pool/Getty Images
Of the real realistic candidates, you’d want to assume that Martial, Marcus Rashford, Trent and Jack Grealish and Christian Pulisic are the frontrunners – in other words, the only guy who hasn’t already cut his teeth in the Premier League. .
From a rookie of the year perspective, however, the choice is probably between Saka, Mason Mount, Mason Greenwood and Sheffield United’s Dan Henderson. Here’s where it gets tricky – Saka and Greenwood are probably more promising than Mount, but Mount himself has contributed more to his team’s success this season.
Compromise Who ticks both boxes? Dan Henderson, who has both established himself as an absolute necessity to the England squad, and won points on his own throughout the season to propel an impressive Sheffield United side to European contenders.
For an on-loan goalkeeper with no top-level experience, that’s pretty good.