For the second successive season, Martin Odegaard has made the shortlist for the PFA Player’s Player of the Year award.
Our skipper, and winner of our club Player of the Season award last term, will be looking to claim the prestigious prize when it is announced next week at the PFA’s award ceremony in Manchester, and beat off competition from five other rivals who all enjoyed superb campaigns last season.
The Norwegian was sensational in the middle of the park last season, playing in 48 of our 52 matches in all competitions, scoring 11 times and laying on 11 further assists. 10 of those came in the Premier League, bettering his tally from last term by three.
His creativity saw him create more chances from open play than any other player in the Premier League (88), while only four players covered more ground in the division than the 401km our captain amassed in 35 league appearances.
His rivals for the prize include international teammate Erling Haaland, who is on the hunt for his second consecutive PFA title after winning the Premier League Golden Boot, while fellow Manchester City star and two-time PFA Young Player of the Year Phil Foden also features in the shortlist after scoring 27 times.
Rodri completes a hat-trick of City challengers, while Ollie Watkins is included after his 19 goals and 13 assists helped Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer has the chance to do the PFA double, with a nomination in both the Players' Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year categories, when one of his contenders will be last year’s recipient Bukayo Saka, who has also been nominated.
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