Ruben Dias has been voted the 2020/21 EA SPORTS Player of the Season. Defender becomes second Portuguese to win award after stunning debut campaign for Man City.
The Portuguese international took social media to thank all the people who voted for him, “Fantastic to finish the season off by being named Premier League Player of the Season! A reward for all the team who worked so hard to bring our fans the title. Thank you to the captains, panel and fans who voted for me. We’ll see you in a few months to do it all over again!”
The Manchester City centre-back follows in the footsteps of team-mate Kevin De Bruyne, who claimed the award in 2019/20. Dias was pivotal to Man City’s third Premier League title in four years as he made an immediate impact following his move from Benfica in September 2020.
His commanding displays made the 24-year-old a mainstay in a City team which boasted the best defensive record in the league, helping Pep Guardiola’s side to 15 clean sheets in his 32 games.
City won 23 of 32 matches he played and also he made 35 interceptions, 24 tackles, 23 blocks and 135 recoveries.
Dias is only the fourth defender in history to be named Player of the Season, emulating Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic, former City captain Vincent Kompany and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.
He is also only the second Portuguese player to win the award, after Cristiano Ronaldo for Man Utd in 2006/07 and 2007/08. The public vote was combined with those of the 20 club captains and a panel of football experts to determine Dias as the winner.
He beat seven other nominees to the award in De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Mason Mount, Mohamed Salah and Tomas Soucek.
