Fernandes, O’Reilly bag Premier League end of season awards
Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has been named Premier League’s player of the season for the 2025-26 campaign.
The Red Devils captain has been a key player for the club this season, scoring eight goals while recording 20 assists in 37 matches.
Fernandes equalled the Premier League assists record with his 20th assist of the season against Nottingham Forest last week.
He fought off the likes of Arsenal’s David Raya, Gabriel and Declan Rice, Manchester City’ Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo, Brentford’s Igor Thiago, and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White to win the award.
He is the first Manchester United player to win the award since defender Nemanja Vidic in 2011.
He was also named the Football Writers Player of the year last week to further establish his stunning performances this season for Manchester United.
Fernandes has created 132 chances this season, the most in the Premier League and an incredible 43 chances more than the next-best, Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai.
In March, Fernandes was voted Player of the Month, equalling the number of times his former Man Utd team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo won the award (six).
Under Michael Carrick, Fernandes has recorded 12 assists in 16 matches to help Manchester United qualify for the Champions League next season.
Fernandes is leading the Premier League for chances created, big chances created, Expected Assists (xA) and through-balls.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidic have won the award twice for Manchester United with the two players winning it under Sir Alex Ferguson.
It has been a clean sweep for Fernandes in terms of individual awards, He has already been crowned Manchester United’s Player of the Year for the fifth time, and he also retained his Players’ Player of the Year gong.
Similarly, Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly has been voted the 2025/26 Premier League Young Player of the Season.
The 21-year has been a key player for Manchester City this season, playing in multiple roles throughout their title-chasing campaign.
He has played 34 of our 37 Premier League games so far this season, scoring five times and providing three assists.
O’Reilly saw off competition from City team-mate Rayan Cherki, as well as Bournemouth pair Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott, Brentford’s Michael Kayode, Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall and West Ham player Mateus Fernandes to win the award.
This is the fourth time a City player has won this award since its inception in 2019.
O’Reilly was delighted to win the award.
“I’m very proud to have won this award,” said O’Reilly.
He said: “After my first appearances in senior football last season, I knew this year I could have the opportunity to play more and help the team as much as possible if I worked hard.
“To get so many minutes and earn the trust of the manager and my teammates has
been the greatest achievement in my career so far.
“I’d also like to thank everyone who voted for me. That recognition means a lot.”
The young star was also named Manchester City’s player of the season on Friday after beating off competition from Abdukodir Khusanov and Jeremy Doku.
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Voting Process For Premier League Player Of The Year Award
The official Premier League Player of the Season is decided by a combined voting system comprising three bodies.
The public vote represents 10% of the total, and is aggregated with the votes of Premier League club captains and a panel of football experts and journalists.
Premier League Awards History
The Manager of the Month award began in 1993/94, a year after the Premier League’s debut season.
Premier League’s Golden awards
At the end of every season there are three more Premier League awards for players who have excelled.
The Coca-Cola Golden Boot goes to the players to have scored the most goals in that campaign.
The Coca-Cola Golden Glove goes to the goalkeepers to have kept the most clean sheets.
The Coca-Cola Playmaker award is presented to the players to have provided the most assists.
The Player of the Month award followed in 1994/95.
The inaugural Manager of the Month winner was Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson, in August 1993. The Scot went on to win the award a record 27 times.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Jurgen Klinsmann won the maiden Player of the Month award in August 1994.
Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah hold the record for the most awards, with seven each.
Premier League Awards Panel
Kelly Cates, Izzy Christiansen, John Cross, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Michael Dawson, Jermain Defoe, Dion Dublin, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Foy, Ryan Giggs, Shay Given, Vicky Gomersall, Lynsey Hipgrave, Glenn Hoddle, Phil Jagielka, Graeme Le Saux, Hayley McQueen, Kevin Miles, Gary Neville, Jacqui Oatley, Leon Osman, Michael Owen, Niall Quinn, Jamie Redknapp, Jason Roberts, Jill Scott, Alan Shearer, Mark Schwarzer, Andy Townsend, Stephen Warnock, Theo Walcott, Ian Wright, Barclays representative, Coca-Cola representative, EA representative, Guinness representative.
