De Bruyne is PFA Player of the Year, Liverpool dominates Team of the Year

Kevin De Bruyne is the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Male Player of the Year after his outstanding season for Manchester City.

Even with Liverpool’s historic title, there was little doubt that De Bruyne was the best player in the Premier League during the 2019-20 campaign.

De Bruyne, 29, was also Premier League Player of the Year and beat teammate Raheem Sterling and four Liverpool players to the PFA honor (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane, and Virgil van Dijk).

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Liverpool players Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk won the award in the two previous seasons that saw record-breaking Man City summit the league, so turnabout is fair play.

The Belgian tied Thierry Henry’s single-season PL assist record with 20 helpers, and that mark might’ve been obliterated had City finished more De Bruyne-produced chances.

De Bruyne also scored a career-best 13 goals in league play, and was humbled by the occasion (via ManCity.com):

“It is a big honor. To be voted by your colleagues, your competitors from other teams who we play against on the field, is amazing. It is maybe strange that I’m the first one at City, with all the good players who played there before and are still playing, but it is nice to represent the Club. I think it is [the ultimate honor] because you compete against them [fellow professionals]. They want to win the trophies; they want to be the best. It is everybody voting, not a few players, so that means you have done really well in the season.”

De Bruyne is joined in the PFA Team of the Year by outgoing teammate David Silva but there is oddly no place for Sterling. Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Henderson, Mane, and Andrew Robertson hog five spots for Liverpool while Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester), Nick Pope (Burnley), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) round out the list.

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On the women’s side, Chelsea’s Beth England was Player of the Year and was joined by teammates Ann-Katrin Berger, Maren Mjelde, Ji So-yun, Millie Bright, and Magdalena Eriksson. Leah Williamson (Arsenal), Caroline Weir (Man City), Kim Little (Arsenal), Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal), and Chloe Kelly (Man City) complete the team.