The 53rd annual Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Awards were held at the Opera House in Manchester last week to celebrate the best of English football across the divisions. The winners of these prestigious awards are voted for by PFA members and cover both the men’s and women’s games.
In this article we will focus our attention on the 11 players who were named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Bruno Fernandes was voted the Men’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year and is the only player from Manchester United included in the XI. You will be unsurprised to read that both Arsenal and Manchester City players feature heavily after their close fought battle to win the title last season. A Brazilian Brentford forward completes the team.
Goalkeeper
Spain’s David Raya was voted goalkeeper of the year by his fellow players after an outstanding title-winning season with Arsenal. He kept 19 clean sheets and won the Premier League’s Golden Glove Award for the 3rd time. The season then ended on an even bigger high for Raya as a member of this summer’s Spanish World Cup winning squad, even if Athletic Bilbao’s Unai Simón pipped him to the gloves in the tournament.
Defenders
- Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal)
- Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
- William Saliba (Arsenal)
- Jurriën Timber (Arsenal)
Three out of the four PFA Premier League Defenders of the Year play for Arsenal. Brazilian Gabriel Magalhães (known as Garbriel) is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and has played for Arsenal since September 2020. Known for his aerial threat he is a strong, aggressive player who was a key part of Arsenal’s title-winning team and featured in the Brazilian World Cup squad this summer.
Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly is still only 21 and was voted the Men’s PFA Young Player of the Year in addition to featuring in the Premier League Team of the Year. He joined Manchester City’s academy at the age of eight and has been with the club ever since. An England youth international he made his senior debut in 2025 and has made 12 appearances since then.
Arsenal’s William Saliba and Jurriën Timber complete the defensive line-up. French international Saliba is known for his partnership with Garbriel and is widely considered to be an intelligent, composed footballer. He signed for Arsenal in 2019 and after loan spells in France he put pen to paper last September and committed his long-term future to Arsenal until 2030.
Dutch footballer Jurriën Timber is developing into one of the best right-backs in the world and joined Arsenal from Ajax in 2023. Of Curaçaoan descent, he has a twin brother called Quentin who is also a professional footballer and plays for Marseille.
Midfielders
- Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- Rayan Cherki (Manchester City)
Moving into midfield, Men’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year Bruno Fernandes had an outstanding season as part of the Manchester United team who finished third. One of the best attacking midfielders in the world, the 31-year-old has 94 caps for Portugal and was also named as the Premier League Player of the Season in May of this year. Bruno provided an astonishing 21 assists last term, nine more than the next-best player.
England’s Declan Rice is a special player who helped Arsenal to win their first league title in 22 years. A commanding midfielder he is eligible to play for both England and the Republic of Ireland through his paternal grandparents. Fortunately for England, he pledged his allegiance to the country of his birth in 2019 and has played 80 games for them since then. That’s an impressive tally given he is still just 27 years old.
Completing the midfield trio is Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki, an attacking French international who played 33 times for City in the Premier League last season and scored four goals. Only Bruno bettered his tally of 12 assists. Eligible to play for either France, Algeria, or Italy he was part of this summer’s French World Cup squad and helped City to finish second in the Premier League last season.
Forwards
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- Antoine Semenyo (Manchester City)
- Igor Thiago (Brentford)
No Premier League team of the season would be complete without the goal-scoring machine that is City’s Erling Haaland. Last season saw Haaland win the league’s Golden Boot award for the third time with an impressive 27 goals in 35 games. Haaland is now one away from equaling the record for the most Golden Boot awards which is currently shared by Arsenal’s Thierry Henry and Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah on four each. Although born in Leeds, Haaland is a Norwegian international who helped Norway achieve their best-ever World Cup finish this summer by scoring seven goals in the competition.
Haaland is joined up front by his Manchester City colleague Antoine Semenyo who scored 17 league goals last season. The Ghanian international joined City in January 2026 and represented his country in the World Cup this summer. He hit the ground running at his new club and his pace, power and eye for goal will take some of the pressure off Haaland.
The final member of the team is Igor Thiago, who scored 22 league goals last season, second only to Haaland. That return is even more impressive considering he plays for Brentford, who finished ninth and outside of the European qualification spots last season. Brentford would love to keep hold of him, but if he has another season like 2025/26, bigger clubs will surely come calling.