We review and analyse the nominees for the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award. Eight of the best young prospects playing in England’s premier division are bidding to be declared as the league’s top prodigious talent this season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Conor Gallagher, Tyrick Mitchell, Mason Mount, Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are all in contention to take home the accolade which recognizes the best-performing player aged 23 or younger at the start of the campaign.
Despite the Premier League having a broad variety of nationalities amongst its players, all eight nominees for the YPOTS are England internationals. Four players have been nominated in back-to-back seasons, including last year’s winner of the prize.
Now let’s dive into the data behind each nomination…
Premier League Young Player of the Season nominees:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Alexander-Arnold has returned to his brilliant best after enduring an awry 2020/21 campaign. The 23-year-old has reasserted himself as a credible force in both attacking and defending capacities and he has registered 12 assists in the league, second only to club teammate Mohamed Salah (13).
Throughout the current season Alexander-Arnold has created 18 big chances, the joint-most in the Premier League, and he averages 6.4 accurate long balls per game as well as 2,7 key passes per game. The Liverpool right-back and England international has also been nominated for the PL Player of the Season, and he was previously voted Young POTS in 2019/20 – the first season after the award was initiated.
Phil Foden
Both the first two winners of the YPOTS are nominated for the third edition of the prize. 2021 winner Foden has built a formidable case at retaining the accolade, starring for title holders and champions-elect Manchester City together with a host of other world-class talents at his aide within Pep Guardiola’s ranks.
For the first time in his career Foden, 21, has started more games than not. He has been selected in 23 PL matches and Guardiola has started the City academy graduate on the bench just nine times. Foden has operated centrally for the most part, thus far playing a direct role in 14 goals for Man City with nine goals and five assists.
Foden has emerged as a prominent ingredient at club level and may also play an integral role in the Three Lions’ bid to capture World Cup glory later this year. To date, Foden has won 15 caps for England.
Conor Gallagher
The on-loan Chelsea midfielder has injected new dimensions to Crystal Palace who are fighting to finish in the top half for the first time since 2015. Gallagher has been pivotal for Palace boss Patrick Vieira, starting in all 32 games he has been available for. Gallagher missed two league matches all season, other than the home and away fixtures against his parent club, and Palace named him as the club’s Player of the Year.
Gallagher has produced eight goals and three assists for the Eagles and his tally of 11 goal involvements is second only to Wilfried Zaha’s 14. Aged 22, Gallagher has three England caps and will now be poised to stake his claim for a spot in Chelsea’s midfield.
Tyrick Mitchell
Palace are one of two clubs to have more than one player nominated for YPOTS. Mitchell has made the left-back position his own after starting all of their first 32 games of the season and has helped keep eight clean sheets for Vieira’s side. Mitchell has completed the third-most tackles (98) in the Premier League this season, and the most among all full-backs in the the division.
Mitchell joined the Palace academy aged 16, and now at 22 could find himself floating above the radar of several top clubs in the league. In 2019, Palace sold another young English full-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, for £50million and the Eagles may find themselves in a similar position should Mitchell continue to produce performances of a similar level.
Mitchell earned a maiden England cap in March this year, making his international debut in friendlies versus Switzerland and Ivory Coast.
Two Palace nominations for the @premierleague Young Player of the Season award 🌟
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) May 13, 2022
Good work, lads 👏#CPFC
Mason Mount
Mount has been instrumental for the Blues and his 21 direct involvements is nine more than any other Chelsea player in 2021/22. Mount has doubled his goal involvements since last term, with his goal tally rising from 6 to 11 and assists from 6 up to 10.
Mount turned 23 in January and has already racked up 27 caps for his country. He is the only player to have been nominated in all three years since the inception of the PL YPOTS.
Aaron Ramsdale
Ramsdale is having a promising first year since completing a £30million switch from Sheffield United to Arsenal last summer. Over the course of the season Ramsdale has started in 33 games out of 37 for the Gunners, keeping 12 clean sheets (ranks 5th among PL goalkeepers) and producing 89 saves (ranks 12th).
Gareth Southgate handed Ramsdale his England debut in November last year after the 24-year-old shot stopper had been named on the bench 11 times for the Three Lions, and he is eager to prove himself as England’s no.1 goalie over the likes of Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope and Dean Henderson.
Declan Rice
Rice has underlined his utmost importance to West Ham, who value their holding midfielder at a sum north of £100million. Rice has completed the most passes, most tackles and most interceptions of all West Ham players this term, and the Hammers’ regular skipper has clocked more minutes than any of his outfield teammates. Rice was named Hammer of the Year at the club’s recent end-of-season awards.
Rice has also established himself as a regular at international level and he made 27 appearances for England prior to his 23rd birthday. Frank Lampard, an all-time England great, collected just three international caps before turning 23. Rice will be eligible for the YPOTS for one more season beyond the current one.
Bukayo Saka
Saka continues to make his presence known in Arsenal’s senior fold and the Gunners’ no.7 has netted 11 goals and made six assists this campaign, more than the 16 goal involvements he managed in all of his last three PL seasons combined (seven goals and nine assists).
Saka has risen from the ashes of a crushing summer last year when he failed to convert the decisive penalty for England in the Euro final at Wembley, and the Arsenal academy product is looking as if he will improve further in the coming years.
Aged 20, Saka is the youngest nominee and he can still be nominated for the YPOTS until the end of the 2025/26 season, and it would come as a huge surprise if he has not bagged the award at least once by then. The England international winger has won 14 caps before his 21st birthday and he is one of two players nominated for the Premier League’s POTS and the YPOTS.
A host of the aforementioned players may also be nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year, to be announced at the season’s conclusion. The winner of the YPOTS will be named shortly after the final weekend of the season. Comment below who you think is the favourite to claim the award.
