The Onefootball end of Premier League season awards 🏆 | OneFootball

It’s that time of the year again. Time for the Onefootball newsroom to take stock and decide what was the best and worst of the last nine months of Premier League football.

Here is what we have to say …

Player of the season

Ian McCourt: When you come to the Premier League on your debut season and perform like Mohamed Salah has, they should not be giving you awards, they should be building statues and weeping at your feet.

Philip Costa: Kevin De Bruyne – along with a few other Manchester City candidates – would have been favourites if it wasn’t for Salah. Define: instant impact.

Lewis Ambrose: I want to say De Bruyne – City’s recent dip means his early season form isn’t getting the credit it deserves – but it’s Salah. His goalscoring season is one of the greatest in Premier League history.

Alex Mott: Mohamed Salah has been sensational, but Kevin De Bruyne is Zidane-esque and there’s no higher praise than that.

Dan Burke: Mohamed Salah scooped the official awards for his incredible season but – at the risk of being accused of Manchester City bias – I think the best player in the best team in the country deserves some individual recognition too, so I’m gonna go for Kev De Bruyne.

Manager of the season

Ian McCourt: Well it’s not Alan Pardew. And despite what Pep Guardiola did, it’s not him either. Sean Dyche has done an astounding job on a measly budget and for that he should be applauded.

Philip Costa: Pep Guardiola. Points record broken, goals record broken and I love how he proved his doubters wrong so significantly. What City could become next season is frightening.

Lewis Ambrose: The Premier League can’t be dominated like LaLiga or the Bundesliga because anyone can beat anyone, right? Wrong. It’s Pep Guardiola.

Alex Mott: Pep Guardiola. He’s not just changed the game in England, he’s changed the way we think about it as well.

Dan Burke: Did anybody mention Pep Guardiola yet? Sure, he’s done okay, but the answer, like every season, is of course Sam Allardyce. Just ask Everton fans.

Transfer of the season

Ian McCourt: If someone says anyone other than Salah, ignore them and delete them from your phonebook and Facebook and block then on Instagram. Honourable mention, though, for Andy Robertson. (No, I don’t support Liverpool.)

Philip Costa: Salah. Pound for pound, there’s been no better piece of business. Shoutout to Brighton for picking up Pascal Groß though.

Lewis Ambrose: Salah. Next.

Alex Mott: I wanted to try and say something clever, but it’s Mohamed Salah. The answer’s Mohamed Salah.

Dan Burke: I’m gonna be contrary and say Ederson. He instantly solved City’s biggest problem from last season and is comfortably the coolest man in the Premier League. Salah hasn’t been a bad signing either, mind.

Disappointment of the season

Ian McCourt: Manchester United. Tons of big names and exciting players but watching soup go cold is more exciting than this incarnation of this famous club.

Philip Costa: Watford have everything in place to be a really impressive club, but keep getting signings wrong on and off the pitch. Wasted potential.

Lewis Ambrose: Southampton’s continued and unending decline. So much went right there for so long.

Alex Mott: There was so much optimism at Everton going into this season. Ten months later they’ve been truly Big Sammed.

Dan Burke: Frank de Boer. We expected total football but what we got was total shite, and after three games he was gone.

Gripe of the season

Ian McCourt: The race for the title. How boring was that? All done and dusted by April. SAD. The other teams are going to have to a serious rethink ahead of next season. Cannot continue!

Philip Costa: The flip-flopping over Arsène Wenger. Deservedly questioned at times, but the ‘tributes’ pouring in from journalists who’ve done nothing but slate him for a decade was nauseating.

Lewis Ambrose: Pundits thinking English football is uniquely special and that British managers deserve all the jobs. They’re wrong and their antiquated views have been blown apart.

Alex Mott: Saturday night football. Just no.

Dan Burke: The backlash against expected goals (xG) as a statistical metric. If you think it’s useless or nerdy then fine, but you forfeit the right to wonder whether the scoreline alone gave an accurate reflection of a game ever again.

What would you like changed for next season?

Ian McCourt: Less VAR. Less talk about VAR. Less talk about VAR from managers. Less talk about how the absence of VAR affected the result. VAR can FRO.

Philip Costa: For young players to be given a chance. Chelsea have now won five FA Youth Cups in a row, why not give some of those boys a chance instead of signing Drinkwater, Barkley et al?

Lewis Ambrose: I want safe-standing introduced. It’s safe (duh!), tickets will be cheaper, atmospheres will improve. Let’s make stadiums more accessible for younger people.

Alex Mott: Managers from the lower leagues be given a chance in the top division.

Dan Burke: For all football analysis not to be disingenuously boiled down to how much clubs spend on players, as if all we’re watching every weekend is a load of banknotes blowing across the grass and not actual human beings who spend hours every day working on technique and tactics. Okay, maybe NOW I’m showing my Manchester City bias.