With 24-year-old players being nominated for the 2023/24 Young Player of the Season, it’s perhaps time to switch up the Premier League’s annual awards.
In order to replace the rather broken Young Player of the Season award, we at 90min have cast our eyes across the Atlantic Ocean to find a more appropriate award, taking a leaf out of the NFL and NBA’s book to create a Rookie of the Year award – handed out to the best newcomer in the division.
Here’s our criteria:
And here’s our Rookie of Year rankings:
Club: Manchester City
Age: 20
Sure, he only started two Premier League games this season, but his 13 appearances overall gave Manchester City fans a glimpse of a rather special young talent.
Oscar Bobb has made the most of his minutes in 2023/24, using his eight minutes against Newcastle United particularly well to score one of the most important goals of City’s season to earn a vital 3-2 win.
Club: Liverpool
Age: 20
Not a lot was expected of Conor Bradley when he quietly returned from his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers last summer and a long-standing back injury in January.
Fast forward a few months and Bradley is now considered to be one of the best young full-backs in the world.
So…how has that happened?
Well, it’s happened because Jurgen Klopp gave Bradley a chance to deputise for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the youngster more than made the most of it.
The Northern Ireland international has been a consistent performer for the Reds ever since – so much so that Alexander-Arnold could well be moved into midfield next season in order to get Bradley on the field regularly.
Club: Liverpool
Age: 21
With Joel Matip being chronically injured and Ibrahima Konate looking rather chronically bad at football at times, Liverpool were in dire need of someone to step up and prove they can be Virgil van Dijk’s partner at the heart of defence.
Enter Jarell Quansah.
The towering centre-back has managed to establish himself as a starter for Liverpool in the second half of the 2023/24 season, and he’s managed to do so by just playing really bloody well.
As adept on the ball as he is off it, he’s a perfect modern defender.
Club: Crystal Palace
Age: 20
When you’re being tipped for a place in England’s Euro 2024 squad after less than one full season of top-flight football, chances are you’ve been playing quite well.
And that’s exactly what Adam Wharton has been doing.
Particularly since the arrival of new Palace manager Oliver Glasner, Wharton has developed into a genuinely fantastic midfielder, providing a metronomic presence in the heart of one of the Premier League’s most in-form teams at the tail-end of the 2023/24 season.
Club: Newcastle United
Age: 18
Lewis Miley is 18-years-old and was a regular in the Premier League for one of the top six teams in the country until picking up an injury.
That is utterly remarkable.
The youngster has thoroughly impressed at the heart of Newcastle’s midfield since breaking through, and is set to be a cornerstone of the club’s new money-rich era.
Club: Manchester United
Age: 19
There has literally been one positive from Manchester United‘s harrowing 2023/24 season, and that positive is Kobbie Mainoo.
Burdened with the responsibility of essentially being United’s one-man midfield for most of the season (Casemiro doesn’t really count at this stage in his career, let’s be honest), the 19-year-old has, somehow, managed to excel.
His fantastic goals against Liverpool and Wolves also proved he has a bit of match-winning star quality in his game too.
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