Goals and assists are what our nine nominees for the 2022 Fans' Footballer of the Year excel at, with Newcastle ’s Bruno Guimaraes the most defensive of the nine on our shortlist.
Does the Magpies’ Brazilian star deserve to be the first winner of the award whose name is not Mohamed Salah? Are we in danger of taking Salah and Harry Kane ’s goalscoring exploits for granted? And is leading your country to glory, as Beth Mead did, the only true metric for gauging the year’s best player?
We look at how the nine players’ stats stack up to help you decide on which way your vote is going - and remember to cast your vote here...
Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne may not be flavour of the month in the Belgium camp but his importance to Manchester City ’s title success was again illustrated by the PFA Player of the Year award in 2022-23.
The central midfielder notched 10 goals and seven assists post-January 1, including a memorable four against Wolves as City went on to clinch the Premier League on a dramatic final day.
He has continued his rich vein of form into 2022-23, with three goals and ten assists from 14 top-flight appearances.
De Bruyne leads the way not only for assists in open play (7), but key passes (3.68) and goal actions per 90 minutes (0.92). Oh, and there’s his three Champions League assists, too.
Bruno Guimaraes
Guimaraes’ impact at Newcastle United has been stunning. Inside the bottom three when he joined from Lyon, they now reside in the Premier League’s top three following an impressive start to 2022-23.
Guimaraes has contributed eight goals and three assists to the cause, with the Magpies winning 19 of the 29 games in which he has featured.
He also boasts a pretty impressive 74% tackle success rate.
Erling Haaland
Haaland has been a breath of fresh air for the Premier League.
In just 18 games for Manchester City, he has scored 23 goals, including 18 in the league.
His Premier League tally is even more impressive considering he is only third for shots with 52, behind Harry Kane (55) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (56).
Three goals and two assists against rivals Manchester United have already written his name into Manchester City folklore while earning him a rare 10 from whoscored.com
His minutes per goal involvement is just 50 and it’s scary that there is more to come from the 22-year-old.
Harry Kane
Kane has enjoyed a fairly routine 2022 by his standards with just the 25 Premier League goals and eight assists.
It’s easy to take the 29-year-old’s goalscoring feats for granted but he is now only five short of 200 Premier League goals, a milestone only achieved by Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney.
Erling Haaland may have stolen some of Kane’s thunder but the Tottenham forward leads the way for headed goals in the top flight this season with six.
He has not been quite so prolific for England this year, with just three goals coming from his 11 international appearances. However, such is his importance to Gareth Southgate that he is virtually undroppable.
James Maddison
Maddison forced his way into the England reckoning with 23 goals and assists in 30 Premier League games in 2022 - and then promptly forced himself out of it by getting injured.
But, prior to his setback, he was on fire for the Foxes, with goals in each of his club’s last four games of 2022-23 followed by seven goals and four assists this season.
Despite Leicester ’s early season struggles, he ranks sixth in the Premier League for chance creation with 21 and third for key passes (2.4).
Beth Mead
Mead was the star of England’s Euro 2022 triumph, winning Player of the Tournament and taking the Golden Boot with six goals from six games and also chipping in with five assists.
The Arsenal striker had kicked off the year with the Women’s Super League goal of the month for January, going on to score a further six goals before the end of the campaign.
She showed little sign of a Euros hangover, with three goals and four assists in seven appearances for Arsenal in 2022-23. However, an ACL rupture in November appears to have ended her campaign, with her involvement in the 2023 World Cup also in jeopardy.
Bukayo Saka
Saka has already made his mark at the 2022 World Cup thanks to a double against Iran in England’s opener.
It continues a rich vein of form for the 21-year-old whose four goals and six assists have spearheaded Arsenal’s rise to the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners’ reigning player of the year, he has racked up more than 100 Premier League appearances for his boyhood club, making him the second youngest Arsenal player to achieve a century of Premier League appearances behind Cesc Fabregas (and the tenth youngest of all time).
Started the year with a goal against Manchester City on January 1. Could he finish it as a World Cup winner?
Mohamed Salah
Salah is aiming to lift the Fans’ Footballer of the Year for a third time and 22 goals in a calendar year certainly put him in the frame. However, such are the standards he has set - and the red-hot form he showed in the first half of 2021-22 - his slightly reduced output resulted in a plenty of column inches announcing his end as a force.
A gruelling Africa Cup of Nations campaign clearly took its toll on the Egyptian but he has shown signs of returning to his prolific best, netting 10 goals in all competitions since early October.
Four assists from inside the box in 2022-23 - the second-highest in the division - show he is not just a goalscorer.
Heung-min Son
Son’s facial injury had the whole of South Korea sweating on the Tottenham forward’s fitness ahead of the World Cup.
It’s understandable, Son scored five goals in his eight international appearances in 2022 prior to the tournament.
Scored 12 goals in the final 10 games of the 2021-22 campaign to finish tied with Mo Salah as the Premier League’s top goalscorer.
Has created 25 big chances this campaign, placing him eighth in the top flight.
