Players with most Premier League Player of the Month awards | OneFootball

Highlights

Winning the Premier League’s Player of the Month award is some achievement to win. To have shone for the entirety of the calendar month is certainly no easy feat, but there are some players that have become accustomed to swooping up the individual gong. Recognising the best adjudged English topflight for that month, the winner is chosen via a combination of a panel of experts, the captain of each Premier League club, and an online public vote, with the latter equating to just 10% of the final tally.

Interestingly, the Premier League Player of the Month award was only introduced two seasons after its inception in 1992 and ever since, a new player has been awarded with the award every month. It is typically given to the standout player for said month; but on the odd occasion – six to be precise - it has been shared between two players. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton rubbed shoulders in 1994, while Liverpool duo Luis Suárez and Steven Gerrard were the latest to do so in April 2014.

But which of the league’s greatest players have reigned victorious the most? Which player is the only one to win it as two different nationalities? And which player has won it four times in one calendar year? Find out the answers to the trio of questions below.

Two Player of the Month awards

An eye-catching 29 players have been blessed with totting up more than one award. Old school players such as Dion Dublin, Tony Yeboah, and Gianfranco Zola have picked up a duo of awards, while new guard players Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ilkay Gundogan, and Erling Haaland also have two to their name.

Haaland, one of the fastest footballers in 2023, is poised to continue breaking records on English turf and will certainly have one eye on climbing up these rankings. Perhaps the final piece of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City puzzle, the enigmatic centre-forward is bound to add more to his cabinet if he continues doing what he does best: score goals.

Eden Hazard, who was one of the best footballers to retire in 2023, surprisingly only picked up two during his stint at Chelsea despite terrorising defenders, week in week out. The pint-sized Belgian earnt his first in October 2016 and then doubled his tally in September 2018. Involved in the best Premier League front three debate alongside Raheem Sterling, both Daniel Sturridge and Suarez, formerly of Liverpool, also have two apiece.

Michail Antonio, who currently plies his trade in east London for West Ham United, is, interestingly, the only player to win it with two different nationalities, winning in July 2020 as an Englishman and one year later once his international allegiance had changed to Jamaica.

Three Player of the Month awards

Spurs cult heroes Gareth Bale and Robbie Keane are among the Premier League players to have picked up a hat-trick of Player of the Month awards, as does Chelsea ace Sterling – included in Liverpool’s all-time academy XI. Keane, more impressively, has won the award playing for a triumvirate of Premier League clubs, with wins coming at Coventry City, Leeds United and Tottenham.

Manchester United pairing Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dwight Yorke, both synonymous with scoring bucketloads of goals at Old Trafford, earnt themselves three apiece, too. Ashley Young, currently at Everton, has also won it three times.

The seasoned defender joins the likes of Peter Odemwingie and Sadio Mané, who last won it in February 2012 and November 2019, respectively. Winning a trio of Player of the Month awards is a tall order, but these players made it look like second nature during their time in the Premier League.

Four Player of the Month awards

A real mix of old and new has seen a quartet of awards, including Dennis Bergkamp, Paul Scholes, Marcus Rashford and Heung-min Son. Scholes could arguably be higher on the list given the talent he had at his disposal – but as we’ve learned, he was one of the world-class players to never be appreciated by their national side. And it seems that the same occurs at domestic level.

The same goes for Thierry Henry, who endured a breathtaking spell at Arsenal. Season upon season, the dazzling Frenchman was a thorn in many defences and, perhaps, deserved more than just four Player of the Month awards. The likes of Rashford and Son still have the opportunity to increase their haul, while Lampard, Bergkamp, and Shearer – due to them hanging up their boots – are going to continue sporting four awards until the end of time.

Bruno Fernandes, who previously set a record for being the only player to win four in the same year, has been unable to add to his tally after 2020. Upon his arrival, he became Manchester United’s primary orchestrator and, therefore, it comes as no surprise that he is held in such high regard in the league.

Read More: An incredible XI who have failed to win a Premier League Player of the Month award

Five Player of the Month awards

Mohammed Salah’s fifth award, since moving back to England in 2017, now sees him join two others in the exclusive club: Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney. The Egyptian King, forever compared to Hazard, won his first in November 2017 before winning consecutively in February and March 2018.

His latest – in October 2023 - marks an important jump-up to join the two aforementioned Red Devils legends. Salah has been a key part of his side’s resurgence under Jürgen Klopp, and will no doubt continue adding more awards until he packs up and leaves.

Rooney, who ranks high among Manchester United’s best-ever strikers, scored plenty of goals during his illustrious stint at the club and as such, earns his rightful plaudits as the man who embodied everything the club stands for. With that came five Player of the Month awards, with his last coming in January 2010.

Joining him on this list is Robin van Persie – also known as the ‘Flying Dutchman’. The mercurial striker scored 144 goals in the English top division and, in return, was awarded on five separate occasions. Four of those came while at Arsenal, with one just coming during the 2012/13 season where he single-handedly won Manchester United the league title.

Six Player of the Month awards

Only two players since the league’s rebranding three decades ago have gone on to pick up six Player of the Month awards: Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo. No current player has matched the individual achievements of the two mentioned stars, and it’ll take some doing to usurp their tally of six apiece. What a duo!

Gerrard, ranked as England’s best-ever player, became one of Liverpool’s icons during his one-club stint in Merseyside and is thoroughly deserving of his six awards given how often he pulled them through the darkest of times.

Ronaldo is undeniably one of the greatest footballers of all time, and it’s no surprise that he is nearing the top of this list. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner won five of his seven awards in his first Manchester United stint but also bagged an extra two upon his sensational homecoming to Old Trafford. Two of the Premier League’s finest ever servants were just whiskers away from joining the elite crew that boast seven awards and while, theoretically, Ronaldo has every chance to return and up his tally, Gerrard’s time as a player is sadly over.

Seven Player of the Month awards

An accolade targeted at those that have an innate knack for putting the ball in the back of the net, it’s little surprise to see only two players have added a record-breaking seven to their CV. A truly incredible feat that only a handful of players could ever dream of matching – Haaland, we’re looking at you.

Only Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane, who plied their trade for Manchester City and Tottenham, respectively, have won a septuplet of accolades. The former spearheaded City’s rise to prominence before seeking pastures new at Barcelona, while Kane was the north Londoners’ ever-reliable figure up top that did it all: scored goals, linked play and was subject to doing the dirty work, too.

Winning his first all the way back in October 2013 and picking up his last in January 2020, the Argentine, one of the Manchester-based club’s greatest-ever players, was a key player for Pep Guardiola as he notched a mouth-watering 260 goals in all competitions and so, it’s not surprising to see him top the list, alongside one of the league’s greatest ever centre forwards.

Of course, there is every chance that Kane – who joined Bayern Munich in the summer as their marquee arrival – could return to his homeland and pull off into a league of his own with much more to give at the ripe age of 30. The England international, who has been capped 87 times and scored 61 goals, was just 47 goals from Shearer’s all-time goalscoring record upon his departure and could be enticed to return, especially with more Player of the Month awards on offer.