The Premier League Player of the Year award has long favoured attackers, but this season Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes are both forcing a different conversation.
The usual markers remain clear: Goals, assists, and decisive moments in the final third still shape how the best players are judged.
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Yet this campaign has exposed how incomplete that view can be, as Arsenal’s efficiency in defence has been key to their success this season.
That shift is starting to influence how the award itself is being discussed, with Hargreaves picking Gabriel and Rice as the main two contenders over Bruno Fernandes.
Owen Hargreaves says the Premier League Player of the Year is between Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes
Owen Hargreaves made that point clear when he suggested Declan Rice could win the Premier League Player of the Year, but he could be challenged by Fernandes and Gabriel Magalhaes.
The Arsenal midfielder has been at the heart of everything good Mikel Arteta’s team has done this season.
In the Premier League, Rice ranks in the 85th percentile for goals and in the 97th percentile for assists.
The former England international is a big fan of Manchester United’s Fernandes, but says Rice should win it if The Gunners win the title.
He told TNT Sports: “Do you know what, he’s up there. I think right now he’s probably the best player in the Premier League, Bruno, just in terms of creation and assists.”
Hargreaves also highlighted that Gabriel Magalhaes has been the best defender this season, reinforcing the idea that Arsenal’s success is built on more than attacking output.
“But I think if Arsenal win the Premier League, I think it would be Gabriel or Declan Rice, and rightly so. Gabriel’s been the best defender this season.
Bruno Fernandes becomes available right now, are you taking him at Arsenal at the expense of another player?
“If Arsenal win, I think it’ll be one of those two. If not, then I think Bruno definitely deserves to win it. I think he’s been the best outfield player. That’s more of an attacking player, not a defender.”
Fernandes has no doubt been brilliant, but it would surely be a travesty if neither Rice nor Gabriel were to win the award.
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