PFA Young Player of the Year 2016: Winner, Voting Results and Awards Reaction
Tottenham Hotspur's Delle Alli has been named the 2015-16 PFA Young Player of the Year to cap off a tremendous campaign.
PFA announced the news:
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Alli's closest competition came from his team-mate Harry Kane, the pair having linked up wonderfully as part of Tottenham’s surprise title charge this term. Also in the running were the Everton duo of Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho and Stoke City’s Jack Butland.
What make’s Alli’s achievement all the more remarkable is that this is the first season he’s had at the elite level of English football.
The young midfielder joined the Spurs squad from MK Dons in the summer and was initially expected to play a peripheral role. But the standard of his cameo appearances prompted manager Mauricio Pochettino to hand him a key role in the side, and the subsequent results have been spectacular.
As these numbers from MisterChip illustrate, given his tender years, Alli’s form has not only been incredible to watch, but unprecedented, too:
Typically, the goals have been superb as well. At Everton earlier in the season, a composed chest control and volleyed finish was an indication of his natural talent, before a stunning piece of technical play at Crystal Palace was followed by a rasping strike to give Spurs the lead; the latter of the two is surely a contender for Goal of the Season.
He’s produced when it matters, too. Alli netted the opener for Tottenham in a vital game against Manchester United recently, and he scored brace against Stoke City in a 4-0 triumph, with one dinked finish and a rasping volley.
Football writer Rupert Fryer thinks Pochettino deserves a lot of praise for Alli’s development:
After winning this gong, Alli will surely head to the European Championships as a key part of England’s plans. Following that tournament, he’ll be left to reflect on a debut campaign at the top level that has gone better than anyone, himself included, could have imagined.
