Arsenal trio among candidates for the PFA award, Rice, Raya and Gabriel against Fernandes, Haaland and Cherki
The Professional Footballers’ Association PFA has announced the shortlist for the Men’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year award for the 2025/26 season, and Arsenal has left the biggest mark on the list. According to the PFA’s official announcement of June 4, 2026, the six candidates include Declan Rice, David Raya and Gabriel Magalhães, three players who were important pillars of Arsenal’s championship season. Alongside them, Bruno Fernandes from Manchester United and the Manchester City duo Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki have been nominated. The winner will be announced on August 25 at the 53rd PFA Awards ceremony in Manchester, and the special weight of the award comes from the fact that professional footballers themselves decide on it. The shortlist therefore brings not only a ranking of individual seasons, but also a debate about whether priority should be given to the best player of the best team, the most dominant individual, or the one whose output is statistically hardest to dispute.
Arsenal’s dominance stems from the title and defence
According to the official Premier League table for the 2025/26 season, Arsenal finished the championship in first place with 85 points, seven more than Manchester City and 14 more than Manchester United. Mikel Arteta’s team recorded 26 wins, seven draws and five defeats, with a goal difference of 71:27. That figure particularly explains why the PFA list did not include only attacking players. Arsenal did not win the title exclusively through attacking productivity, but through control of matches, reducing the number of opposition chances and stability in the key stages of the season.
Official Premier League data show that Arsenal conceded only 27 goals in 38 rounds, which was the best defensive record in the competition. Arteta’s team built the title on a structure that combined high pressing, aggressive recovery behind the ball and security in their own penalty area. Precisely for that reason, the nominations of Gabriel and Raya are not only recognition of individuals, but also confirmation that the players recognised the value of defensive work that often remains in the shadow of goals and assists.
Arsenal’s season also had a broader historical context. The club won its first English championship title since the 2003/04 season, when the generation known as the Invincibles finished the league campaign unbeaten. According to Arsenal’s announcement after winning the title, it marked the end of a 22-year wait in the Premier League. Such a context further strengthens the candidacy of Arsenal’s players, because individual awards usually gain additional weight when they are connected with great team turnarounds, long waits and symbolic seasons.
Declan Rice as the face of Arsenal’s balance
Declan Rice is the clearest representative of Arsenal’s midfield in this race. His season cannot be reduced only to the number of goals or assists, because his role in Arteta’s system was much broader. Rice played in different periods as a deeper organiser, an energetic midfielder who attacks space and a player who takes on a large share of responsibility at set pieces. Such variability of roles was important for a team that had to maintain stability throughout the season even when it could not count on complete continuity from all attacking players.
Rice’s advantage in the PFA vote may lie precisely in the fact that opponents perceive him as a player who changes the rhythm of a match without constantly needing a spectacular move. In Arsenal’s title, he was important in pressing, covering the space in front of the centre-backs, carrying the ball forward and controlling second balls. When talking about the player of the season, his case rests on the idea that the best individual does not always have to be the one who finished the most moves, but the one who enabled the team to play matches most often on its own terms.
Compared with Fernandes and Haaland, Rice does not have an equally striking statistical headline. He did not break the assists record, nor did he finish as the league’s top scorer. However, his candidacy rests on the title, continuity and the impression that he was the connective tissue of the most successful team in the championship.
David Raya and the rare candidacy of a goalkeeper
David Raya enters the competition as one of the most interesting candidates because goalkeepers rarely receive this kind of recognition in player-of-the-season selections. According to the Premier League’s official announcement, the Spanish goalkeeper won the Golden Glove for the 2025/26 season after recording 19 clean sheets in 37 appearances. The Premier League also stated that it was his third consecutive award for the goalkeeper with the most matches without conceding a goal, which places him in the very narrow company of the most consistent keepers in the modern history of the competition.
Raya was important for Arsenal on two levels. The first is classic goalkeeping security: saves at moments when the team was exposed, calmness under pressure and the ability to preserve the result in matches in which the title is won through patience. The second is his role in building attacks. Arteta’s Arsenal bases a large part of its control on a goalkeeper who can start moves with short passes, recognise when to bypass the first pressing line and at the same time reduce the number of risky situations. In such a system, the goalkeeper is no longer only the last line of defence, but the starting point of possession.
If Raya wins the award, it would be recognition of a change in the way the goalkeeper position is valued. In a season in which Arsenal had the best defence in the league, his candidacy seems logical even though he is competing against players with more visible attacking numbers. The history of individual awards mostly favours those who decide matches with goals, but Raya’s case shows that a clean sheet at the right moment can have the same value.
Gabriel Magalhães as a symbol of defensive power
Gabriel Magalhães is Arsenal’s third candidate and perhaps the most direct proof that this year’s PFA list has strongly rewarded defensive excellence. According to official Premier League statistical data, Gabriel made 32 league appearances in the 2025/26 season, scoring three goals and providing four assists, along with a large number of duels won, aerial duels and blocked shots. But his influence does not stop in the numbers. The Brazilian was the central figure of Arsenal’s back line, a player who brought aggression, duel play and authority in the penalty area.
His candidacy is especially important because centre-backs often remain undervalued in individual selections. Gabriel, however, had a season in which defensive work was directly linked with winning the title. Arsenal’s ability to keep matches under control relied on his one-on-one defending, stepping out from the back line and threat at set pieces. In modern football, centre-backs are no longer only players who clear danger; they are required to build attacks, read space, react over large distances behind a high line and constantly make decisions against fast attackers.
Gabriel’s presence on the list is therefore also a message about the identity of Arsenal’s season. If Rice represents balance, and Raya security, Gabriel represents the team’s physical and mental toughness. It was precisely that combination that gave Arsenal the advantage in the title race. In the players’ vote, he could benefit from the reputation among opponents who directly felt how difficult it is to play against him, although some of the votes favourable to Arsenal’s season may perhaps be distributed among all three nominated members of the champions.
Bruno Fernandes has the strongest individual argument
Bruno Fernandes enters the PFA race with the strongest individual package of recognitions and statistical arguments. According to the Premier League’s official announcement, the Manchester United captain broke the record for the number of assists in a single Premier League season when he reached his 21st assist in the final round against Brighton. With that, he surpassed the previous record of 20 assists, held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. In addition, the Premier League named him EA SPORTS Player of the Season for 2025/26, while the Football Writers’ Association FWA had earlier chosen him as Footballer of the Year.
Official Premier League statistics state that Fernandes finished the season with 35 appearances, nine goals and 21 assists. Those numbers explain why, despite Manchester United not winning the title, he is a serious candidate for the award given by players. Fernandes was the team’s main creative source, the player through whom a large part of attacks passed and the leader who returned United to the upper part of the table. According to the final Premier League table, United finished the season third with 71 points, which is an important sporting context for his candidacy.
In his favour is the fact that players are often inclined to recognise individual responsibility within a team that was not the most dominant in the league. Fernandes carried an enormous creative burden, and the assists record gives his season a historical dimension. Working against him may be the fact that the PFA award often gains additional emotional and competitive weight when it is connected with the league title. Precisely for that reason, the final choice will show how much voters prioritise a record and individual output compared with a trophy and collective dominance.
Haaland and Cherki keep Manchester City in the debate
Manchester City has two candidates on the list, but with different profiles. Erling Haaland once again represents the cleanest attacking argument. According to official Premier League statistics, the Norwegian striker scored 27 goals and added eight assists in the 2025/26 season. That saw him finish as the league’s top scorer and once again confirm that he is the most reliable finisher in English football. City did not defend the title, but finished second with 78 points and had the best attack in the league with 77 goals, which keeps Haaland’s candidacy near the top of the debate.
Haaland’s case is simple and strong: the top scorer of the most efficient team must always be in the conversation for player of the year. Still, with him there is also the paradox of high expectations. Because he has already accustomed the public to extreme numbers, a season of 27 league goals can be wrongly perceived as ordinary, even though it is an output that would be the peak of a career for almost any other striker. In the PFA vote, that can be both an advantage and a burden. Players know how difficult it is to score regularly in the Premier League, but at the same time the award sometimes looks for a story that goes beyond statistical routine.
Rayan Cherki brings a different type of candidacy. According to official Premier League data, the French midfielder for Manchester City had 33 appearances, four goals and 12 assists, making him one of the most prominent creators of the season. His nomination confirms that players recognised an influence that does not always have to be measurable only through goals. Cherki gave City creativity, unpredictability and the ability to open opposition blocks with a move that changes the rhythm of an attack. In a team that, after changes in midfield, had to adapt to a new structure, such quality had special value.
The players’ vote puts the emphasis on respect from dressing rooms
The PFA award has a special status because it does not come from the voting of fans, journalists or official committees, but from the assessment of the professionals themselves. According to the rules listed in the PFA announcement, members of the association vote for the best performers of their season, and the winner is determined from the shortlisted candidates. This gives the award a different tone from other individual recognitions. Players often value details that are not always in the foreground of public debate: the quality of decision-making under pressure, continuity without the ball, duel play, the way an opponent changes match preparation because of one player and the feeling of weight someone brings on the pitch.
That is why this year’s selection seems open. If voters reward team success and the league’s best defence, Arsenal has three strong candidates. If historical statistics decide, Fernandes has an argument that no one else can repeat. If the award goes to the deadliest striker, Haaland remains a serious choice, while Cherki has his place in the debate as a creator who changed the dynamics of City’s play.
Particularly interesting will be the relationship between Arsenal’s three players. Their presence on the same list shows the strength of the champions, but at the same time opens the possibility that votes favourable to Arsenal’s season will be distributed across several sides. Rice, Raya and Gabriel represent three different explanations of the same title: control of midfield, security in goal and dominance in defence. Fernandes, Haaland and Cherki arrive with clearer individual narratives outside Arsenal’s collective. It is precisely that tension between the collective and individual class that makes this year’s PFA race one of the more interesting in recent seasons.
The decision will close a season of great contrasts
The 2025/26 Premier League season brought Arsenal’s return to the top, Manchester City’s attacking power without the title, Manchester United’s rise led by Fernandes and several outstanding individual performances. The PFA shortlist therefore looks like a summary of the entire season. Arsenal’s candidates speak of a title won through defence and balance. Fernandes brings the story of a record and creative responsibility. Haaland represents goalscoring consistency, and Cherki a new dimension of City’s game.
Until the announcement on August 25, the debate will continue among fans, analysts and former players, but the most important voices have already framed the race. The PFA has confirmed that the six nominees are not only statistically outstanding individuals, but players whose impact was recognised by those who played against them during the season. That is also the greatest value of this award. It measures not only numbers, trophies or reputation, but also the feeling a player leaves on the pitch, in duels, under pressure and in the moments when a match is decided.
Sources:
- Professional Footballers’ Association – official announcement of the shortlists for the PFA Awards 2026 and the date of the awards ceremony (link)
- Premier League – official final Premier League table for the 2025/26 season (link)
- Premier League – official announcement about the Golden Glove award for David Raya in the 2025/26 season (link)
- Premier League – official announcement about Bruno Fernandes’s record of 21 assists in one season (link)
- Premier League – official announcement of Bruno Fernandes being named EA SPORTS Player of the Season 2025/26 (link)
- Premier League – official statistics centre and player profiles used to verify the candidates’ league performances (link)
- Football Writers’ Association – official announcement of Bruno Fernandes being named Footballer of the Year 2026 (link)
- Arsenal FC – official announcement about winning the 2025/26 Premier League title and the context of the season (link)