Bruno Fernandes is taking individual accolades after helping Manchester United to finish third despite an awful start to the season...but there are those who feel the Portuguese's case is being overstated.
Fernandes was recently named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year for 2025/26, prompting a round of claims around how daft it is not to have awarded it to an Arsenal player.
Declan Rice is a particularly popular alternative candidate among Gunners fans, many of whom believe the England midfielder was more deserving - and one Arsenal icon agrees.
Paul Merson believes Declan Rice has had a better season than Bruno Fernandes
Paul Merson believes that Rice should have taken the gong home after playing a key part in Arsenal's successful Premier League title charge and their run to the Champions League final.
The former Arsenal midfielder believes the situation may be somewhat akin to David Ginola winning player of the year awards during Manchester United's treble-winning season of 1998/99, when the polling of United players was split several ways.
Speaking on behalf of Historic Newspapers, which is home to the world’s largest private newspaper archive and personalised newspaper gifts, Merson said of Rice: "He carries the team, gets them up the pitch, works hard.
"He's always 7 or 8 [out of ten]. He's never 6, [and] he's rarely ten - but he's always 7 or 8 and [that's] every week, every week.
"I'm a big fan of Bruno Fernandes, I love watching him, he's my kind of player. But Declan Rice has won more football matches this season than Fernandes has played in, and half [Fernandes'] assists are set-pieces."
(Slight point of order there: WhoScored attribute just eight of Fernandes' 20 assists this season to set pieces, which is less than half and indeed marginally less as a proportion than Rice's four out of nine in all competitions.)
Merson believes United's lack of European football this season should be taken into account, saying: "I'm a big fan of [Fernandes], but when you're playing once a week, it is a lot different.
"When you're playing week in, week out and under the pressure of coming second every year, and then, you look like you might even be coming second again from absolutely nowhere, that pressure in football is immense.
"The only problem is there have been a lot of good Arsenal players, and that's probably the reason that Bruno won that award: he’s been the standout for Man United, really, and I love watching him, I do.
"But Arsenal have had Saliba, Gabriel, Raya. Rice...so they've had a few more."
