/ 16 May 2016

Leicester City dominate team of the year

Jamie Vardy celebrates with Riyad Mahrez after scoring the first goal for Leicester against Newcastle at St James' Park on November 21 last year.
Jamie Vardy celebrates with Riyad Mahrez after scoring the first goal for Leicester against Newcastle at St James' Park on November 21 last year.

David de Gea
Manchester United

The Spain goalkeeper was named United’s player of the year for the third successive season after keeping more clean sheets this term than in any other previous Premier League campaign.

Hector Bellerin
Arsenal

The young Spaniard emerged as one of the few bright spots in another otherwise gloomy season for the Gunners with his mature presence at right back and buccaneering bursts forward.

Wes Morgan
Leicester City

The 32-year-old Foxes captain, who has spent much of his career scuffling around in the second tier, epitomised his team’s remarkable rise with his commanding displays at the heart of Leicester’s rock-solid rearguard.

Toby Alderweireld
Tottenham Hotspur

The Belgium centre-back won a host of individual accolades, including his club’s supporters’ player of the year award, thanks to a masterful campaign that showcased his rugged defending and expansive passing.

Danny Rose
Tottenham Hotspur

The 25-year-old left-back is something of a late bloomer, but he shone as part of the Premier League’s most parsimonious defence. England recognition duly followed.

Riyad Mahrez
Leicester City

With 17 goals and 11 assists, Mahrez emerged from obscurity to become a bona fide superstar, and the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year to boot, as the Algeria winger played a key role in the champions’ title charge.

N’Golo Kante 
Leicester City
Kante (25) arrived from Caen as a virtual unknown in England, but it was not long before Premier League pundits were singing his praises as the £5.6-million pounds midfielder’s tough tackling and astute reading of the game earned comparisons with French legend Claude Makelele.

Dele Alli
Tottenham Hotspur

Less than 12 months after arriving at White Hart Lane from Milton Keynes Dons, the 20-year-old England midfielder has developed so quickly he is now regarded as one of the most talented young stars in Europe, with a key role for his club and country nailed down for years to come.

Dimitri Payet 
West Ham United
Hailed as “better than Zidane” in a song sung by his adoring West Ham fans, the 29-year-old has not quite reached the stratospheric heights scaled by the Juventus and Real Madrid legend, but his sublime first season in east London was thrilling enough that he is now well established among the league’s best playmakers.

Harry Kane
Tottenham Hotspur

Suggestions that Kane would endure a sophomore slump after his breakthrough season a year ago proved well wide of the mark as the England international’s predatory instincts brought him more league goals than any Tottenham player since Gary Lineker bagged 28 in 1991-1992.

Jamie Vardy
Leicester City

Harassing opponents with his tireless work rate and finishing off Leicester’s counter-attacks with his deadly eye for goal, Vardy was a one-man wrecking crew as the England striker completed his incredible rise from non-league journeyman to Premier League champion. — AFP