Bruno Fernandes' award is long overdue recognition but no one truly deserved to be Footballer of the Year

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There are various similar awards in English football these days, and the Professional Footballers’ Association award, voted for by fellow professionals, is probably now more prestigious. But the FWA award boasts a grander history: Fernandes follows in the footsteps not merely of Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah, but also Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney and Bobby Moore. He was the obvious winner for 2025-26. But if there’s ever been a season to spoil your ballot paper — indicating none of the options really merit such a fabled award — this was it. Fernandes’ award, it should be clarified, is long overdue recognition for a truly outstanding footballer. There are legendary No 10s who didn’t ever achieve this level of consistency. Since joining Manchester United in 2020 he’s been among the best players in the country; his only problems coming when the side was based around Cristiano Ronaldo, and then when Ruben Amorim was committed to a 3-4-3 and couldn’t decide which role to play Fernandes in. In fact, he would have been a deserved winner back in 2020-21, when the award strangely went to his compatriot Ruben Dias. (It’s funny that three Portuguese compatriots, in various ways, have stopped Fernandes receiving the acclaim he deserved.) Clearly, his assists tally was the main reason he won. Fernandes has created a steady stream of goals, many from set-pieces — six for Casemiro, another two for centre-backs — but he’s also been fortunate that his team-mates have converted these chances at an unusually high rate. Look at the underlying numbers, and Fernandes’ creative numbers aren’t overwhelmingly different from his normal figures, and actually lower than three seasons ago. Besides, his combined goal-and-assist tally is still three off his personal record from 2020-21, even if that figure was reliant on penalties. Essentially, Fernandes has maintained his level from previous seasons, while everyone else’s has dipped — partly because he hasn’t been competing in Europe. So where on earth were the other outstanding footballers this season? One popular alternative was Rayan Cherki, who has provided some magical contributions during the run-in, particularly with a brilliant dribble and disguised pass for Marc Guehi’s goal against Chelsea, then when scoring the opener against Arsenal after a lovely dribble. But Cherki was out injured for a spell at the start of the season, and in six games in 2026 he’s been on the bench; the final occasion being a 1-1 draw at West Ham, after which Pep Guardiola admitted the Frenchman should have started. Sure enough, he hasn’t been omitted since. But footballers should have to play a significant share of minutes to be deserving of a player of the season award. As things stand, Cherki has been on the pitch for City for 54 per cent of the season, which is surely below the qualifying threshold. His team-mate Bernardo Silva, like Fernandes, could have won this award previously — in 2018-19 he was arguably the best player in the league, being voted Manchester City’s best player in a season they won the domestic treble — but this would really be a ‘lifetime achievement’ award, which isn’t what this is supposed to be all about. As for Erling Haaland — sorry, but for a pure goalscorer, four non-penalty goals since Christmas doesn’t quite merit recognition. At various stages the Arsenal trio of Rice, Gabriel and David Raya have seemed decent candidates. But Rice, in keeping with many players, hadn’t looked as sharp in recent months, even if a switch to a deeper role seems to have rejuvenated his form. Gabriel also hasn’t been so prominent since the turn of the year, particularly in the opposition box, which was a fundamental reason he previously felt so important for Arsenal. Some errors have crept in from Raya, many of which he’s been fortunate to get away with. And so as a small and completely irrelevant form of protest, knowing that Fernandes would triumph by miles: my vote went to… no one. No Premier League footballer this season has been at the requisite standard. The football has not been entertaining enough. The matches have been lacking in the technical quality and individual inspiration we’ve been accustomed to in previous years. It’s difficult to fully explain why this has happened to such an overwhelming extent, but the focus on intensity and set pieces, at the risk of creativity, interplay and rotations of position, have had a serious impact. The two England-based players who finished in the top 20 of the Ballon d’Or voting last year, Mohamed Salah and Cole Palmer, have been completely off form this time around. Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2024, hasn’t been the same since the serious knee injury he sustained in the September of that year. This isn’t necessarily evidence of the modern game not producing good enough footballers; they’re just not playing in the Premier League this season. There was a similar situation in 2010-11, when the FWA award went to Scott Parker, a very odd choice considering his West Ham side were relegated. Elsewhere, Lionel Messi and Barcelona were taking the game to new heights. Of course, an alternative approach would have been simply not returning the voting form. But one player who deserved a vote is Bunny Shaw, the outstanding player in the Women’s Super League, as Manchester City have cruised to the title. She was unquestionably on the level usually expected of the best player in a league. Fernandes deserves his award, but it’s a damning indictment of the individual quality in the Premier League that by simply maintaining his typical level — which wasn’t previously enough to win this award — he’s suddenly the victor by a landslide. He’s far from out of place alongside previous winners. But let’s hope for better from the entire league next season. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms