Bruno Fernandes Crowned PFA Player of the Year After Record-Breaking Assist Season

Bruno Fernandes has been named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year after a landmark 2025-26 campaign in which the Manchester United captain smashed the Premier League record for assists in a single season. The Portugal midfielder collected the prestigious player-voted award at Manchester’s Opera House on Tuesday evening, completing a clean sweep of the season’s major individual honours following earlier recognition as Premier League Player of the Season and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.

Fernandes surpassed the previous assist mark of 20, jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, on the final day of the season when he delivered the cross for Patrick Dorgu’s header against Brighton, registering his 21st assist of the campaign. The achievement capped a year of sustained creativity and leadership that convinced his fellow professionals to vote him the outstanding performer in the division. He becomes the first United player to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award since Wayne Rooney in 2010.

Pride in Peer Recognition

Speaking after collecting the trophy, Fernandes emphasised the unique significance of an award decided by opponents and teammates. “Winning this, being voted by the ones that every week go out on the pitch against me, is something that makes me very proud,” he said. “Because they’ve been there, they’re playing against me, they’ve seen what I’m capable of doing, and for them to vote for me is something I’m very grateful for. It’s always nice to see the name of the club in these kinds of awards, and obviously the players stand out with the club behind them. That’s very important for us. I hope that from now on we can have even more players from our club having this kind of recognition, because it’s also important and means that we’re doing something very good. Individually, you want to have these accolades to show that your game is helping the team and that there are a lot of good things you’ve been doing to help them.”

His words reflected both personal satisfaction and a broader desire to see Manchester United players feature more regularly among the game’s individual honours, a theme that has resonated with supporters during a period of transition at Old Trafford.

Team of the Year Dominated by Arsenal and City

Fernandes was the sole United representative named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. The only other player selected from outside Arsenal and Manchester City was Brentford’s Igor Thiago. Arsenal’s defensive strength was heavily reflected in the XI, with David Raya, Gabriel, William Saliba, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice all included. Manchester City’s contingent comprised Nico O’Reilly, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo and Erling Haaland. Notably, no Liverpool players made the side, a year after Mohamed Salah claimed the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.

The composition of the team underlined the dual dominance of Arsenal’s structure and City’s attacking output across the campaign, while also highlighting the individual excellence that allowed Fernandes and Thiago to break into a selection otherwise monopolised by the two Manchester and north London clubs.

Young Player and Lower-League Honours

Nico O’Reilly further enhanced City’s evening by collecting the Men’s Young Player of the Year award. The young midfielder finished ahead of club-mate Cherki as well as Max Dowman, Junior Kroupi, Kobbie Mainoo and Rio Ngumoha. In the Championship, Hayden Hackney was named Player of the Year after playing a central role in Middlesbrough’s run to the play-off final in May. Hackney subsequently joined Everton in July following the failure to secure promotion with his boyhood club. Dom Ballard of Leyton Orient took the League One award after a standout season, while Swindon’s Aaron Drinan was recognised as League Two’s best performer.

Women’s Awards: Shaw Makes History Again

On the women’s side, Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw lifted the PFA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year award for the second time, having previously won it in 2024. She becomes only the third player to claim the honour twice, following Lucy Bronze (2014 and 2017) and Fran Kirby (2018 and 2021). Shaw also finished as the Women’s Super League Golden Boot winner with 21 goals in 22 matches, powering City to their first top-flight title in a decade. The other nominees for the main award were City team-mate Yui Hasegawa, Chelsea’s Lauren James, Manchester United’s Jess Park, Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Aston Villa’s Kirsty Hanson.

The PFA WSL Team of the Year included Hannah Hampton, Kerstin Casparij, Toko Koga, Ellie Carpenter and Emily Fox among its selections. Arsenal’s Olivia Smith, the Canadian forward who became the first women’s player to break the seven-figure transfer barrier when she moved from Liverpool for £1million last summer, was named Young Player of the Year after an impressive campaign that yielded five goals and three assists.

Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw lifted the Women’s Players’ Player of the Year award

Arsenal’s Olivia Smith scooped the Young Player of the Year award after a fine season

A Season of Individual Excellence

Fernandes’s treble of major awards—Premier League, Football Writers’ and now PFA—cements his status as the standout performer of the 2025-26 season in the eyes of both journalists and fellow professionals. The assist record provides a statistical landmark that is likely to endure, while the peer-voted PFA prize carries particular weight because it reflects the judgment of those who faced him week after week.

For Manchester United the recognition offers a rare moment of individual glory amid broader squad rebuilding. For Fernandes himself it represents validation of a style of play built on constant involvement, risk-taking in possession and an unrelenting demand for standards. As he left the Opera House stage with the trophy, the captain’s message was clear: the personal accolades matter most when they signal contribution to the collective. Whether United can translate his excellence into sustained team success remains the larger challenge, but on the evidence of a record-breaking assist season and a clean sweep of individual honours, few players in the country exerted greater influence across the campaign.