Ruben Dias Crowned Premier League Player Of The Season
Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has been voted the Premier League’s 2020/2021 player of the season.
The Portugal international has already won the Football Writers Association(FWA) player of the year and has also been shortlisted for the Professional Footballers Association(PFA) player of the year.
The 24-year-old arrived from Benfica at the start of the season for £62m and played a key role in Pep Guardiola’s side taking back the Premier League crown from Liverpool.
Dias helped Manchester City keep 15 clean sheets in his 32 appearances in his debut season in the top flight as the Citizens also won the Carabao Cup and contested the final of the UEFA Champions League against Chelsea, which they lost.
Dias came out on top in an eight-man shortlist that included Manchester City teammate Kevin de Bruyne, West Ham United’s Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Soucek, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, Mohammed Salah, Jack Grealish and Tottenham Hotspurs’ Harry Kane.
De Bruyne won the award in the 2019/2020 season.
Dias is only the fourth defender to win the Premier League player of the season after Nemanja Vidic, Vincent Kompany and Virgil Van Dijk. He is the second Portuguese to win after Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dias has been named in the Portugal squad for this summer’s European Championship which starts next week.
