The PFA awards for 2023 have been held and Erling Haaland has unsurprisingly claimed the best player award.
The 23-year-old joined from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022 and immediately hit the ground running, causing earthquakes and shattering records in English football.
His 36 goals for City in the 2022/23 Premier League season is now the record for most goals in a single league season in the Premier League. That is one of a number of records he broke and set in his debut season, and he has been rewarded for it.
Haaland was up for the PFA top prize with fellow countryman and Arsenal captain, Martin Ødegaard, fellow Manchester City teammates Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones, as well as Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka. Haaland would win it by a wide margin while Saka, against whom he was also up for the PFA young player of the year.
Saka would win the young player of the year award, however, in a move that confuses fans.
Other winners on the night were Aston Villa and England star Rachel Daly, who took home the PFA Women’s Player’s Player of the Year award after an incredible season. It was Daly’s debut campaign in England, and she scored 22 goals in 22 appearances to win the women’s golden boot which also bagged her the PFA award.
Chelsea’s Lauren James, who moved from Manchester United in 2022, bagged the women’s young player of the year award. China Akpom, now with AFC Ajax in the Netherlands, was crowned the Championship player of the year.
The biggest omission was Mohamed Salah, who was unable to make it into the PFA XI of the 2022/24 season. Outside the nominees for the top prize, Arsenal’s William Saliba, Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane, who is now with Bayern Munich, made the team of the season.
The Norway international has already hit the ground running in his second season, with three goals from three Premier League matches. Haaland is not scoring at the same rate as he was when he first landed in England but it is expected that he will be the man to beat to all the awards and prizes by the end of the 2023/24 season.
With Kane out of the league and Ivan Toney out until January, Haaland retaining the Premier League top scorer award is almost certain to waltz unchallenged to another Golden Boot, if he can stay fit.
However, with Kevin De Bruyne out of commission for the next few months, many wonder how he will be able to score enough to bag a second-straight top scorer award.
