At a Glance:
- William Saliba hints Arsenal teammate has been superior to Bruno Fernandes.
- Saliba calls Arsenal star “the man.”
- Fernandes could be the favourite for PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.
Arsenal colossus William Saliba has a strong case for being considered the best player in the 2025/2026 Premier League season.
Saliba has been somewhat underappreciated this term, perhaps due to his understated demeanor on the pitch but the Frenchman remains pivotal to the Gunners’ watertight defence while barely making many errors.
However, several of the defender’s teammates deserve to be in contention to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award. One of them is Declan Rice, who has been phenomenal this season.
Saliba named Rice as a worthy winner of the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, an accolade that has led to a debate between the England international and Bruno Fernandes.
William Saliba names Arsenal star Declan Rice as the ‘Player of the Season’
On one hand, pundits like Rio Ferdinand reckon Fernandes has outperformed Rice as well as David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes this campaign.
However, Alan Shearer lauded Rice’s displays at Arsenal and picked him as the Premier League’s best player.
While Saliba did not directly name Fernandes, he certainly hinted at the Portuguese international not having a better season than Rice.
The 25-year-old said via Arsenal’s official in-house media: “He’s the man! He’s the Player of the Season! He’s the Player of the Season!”
Why Bruno Fernandes could pip Declan Rice to PFA Player of the Season award
On one hand, some would claim that Rice has a strong chance of winning the award due to becoming a Premier League champion; something that could hold weight for his peers during the voting process.
However, Fernandes setting the all-time assist record (21) for a single Premier League campaign while spearheading this Manchester United side could give him the advantage.
Ultimately, Fernandes being an attacking player, him breaking the assist record and being more important to United than Rice may be for Arsenal could mean Saliba’s teammate misses out on the award.
