Alex Charlton says…
While I’m tempted to go for Enzo Le Fée, I feel I have to go with our captain and Premier League signing of the season, Granit Xhaka.
One of the biggest signs of how important a player is to a team is when they’re absent, and for me we’re at our weakest when we’re without him in the side.
It goes without saying but his overall influence on the club and the players is monumental and I think the players have bought into the club because of his belief.
We often hear about his leadership qualities etc,
but he’s been magnificent on the pitch in terms of ability. He’s the anchor in the midfield; a superb distributor of the ball and his passing into the final third has been phenomenal.
We’ve seen great leaders at this club before, but never did I think I’d witness someone elevate it to the heights Xhaka has. Not only is he my signing of the season, but he has to be my player of the season, too.
Anth Gair says…
Where do you start? This could be one of about fifteen players.
You’ve got Robin Roefs, the goalkeeper that started the season like a brick wall and had a couple of issues with ball handling towards the end of the season but has been largely influential in the European qualification push — the save against Everton being the case in point.
You’ve got the king, Granit Xhaka, who could lead me into battle tomorrow with 0.01% chance of winning and make me believe I could win. The bloke’s eye for a pass is outrageous and he’s getting no slower with age. He’s probably the greatest signing in Sunderland AFC history by a long way.
You’ve got the World’s Strongest Footballer in Brian Brobbey, who the Mrs would pick as Player of the Season and whose ability to throw defenders about is unheard of.
You’ve also got Noah Sadiki, Nordi Mukiele, Trai Hume — all of whom have had magnificent seasons and could easily win this prestigious Gair award.
You’ve got Big Dan Ballard, currently injured but made the step up from the Championship with absolutely no trouble, becoming one of the best centre backs in the league. He walks into any team in the Premier League and gets minutes.
If it wasn’t for my pick, Ballard gets it, but it would be remiss of me to not give it to the talismanic Frenchman Enzo Le Fée.
His tenacity, his technique, his mastery of our beautiful game…he’s one of the the best at what he does in the league and everyday I pinch myself in disbelief knowing that he’s a Sunderland player.
A tough question, but Le Fée takes it for me!
Ben McKevitt says…
An initial caveat and point of clarification, if this question was: ‘most important player of the season’, the answer would undoubtedly be Granit Xhaka.
It’s not though, and so my choice is Enzo Le Fée.
I’m not going to pretend that I’m not biased in this choice as I love him with all my heart, but I think he deserves this accolade through his creativity, influence and work rate. If you look at any great moment from the season, there’s a big chance that he had a part to play in it — Brian Brobbey’s goals vs the Visitors and Spurs, the FA Cup victory at Everton, and Malo Gusto’s own goal.
The sheer amount of unbridled joy that the man brings me each week is completely unmatched by any Sunderland player in my lifetime, and he does it all so gracefully.
That’s not to diminish the battling spirit he demonstrates every time he’s on the pitch, which typifies this team and the reason we finished where we did — take him out of the eleven and we lose so much in attack and defence.
He’s the original believer in the cause, taking a huge gamble to come last January and that risk has paid off for all involved. I was almost sickened by his banishment to the reserve team in pre-season, so for him to produce what he has this season after that start is just another point of admiration.
We build around Le Fée in the coming seasons if we want to build as a team overall. He’s just that good.
Ian Bendelow says…
The question is not “Is it Granit Xhaka” but “Why is it Granit Xhaka?” — a man, that by so many metrics, embodies not just what Sunderland fans get from a footballer, but what every other fanbase in the country wants for their team too. And we know others are looking on enviously.
The popular metrics to set a player apart are obvious ones.
Goals scored, silky skills, local lad and so on. And that’s invariably what gets you the vote. But in Xhaka, we’ve had attributes demonstrated to us that I’m confident we’ve never seen before — either at the Stadium of Light or Roker Park. Or if you want to go even further back, Blue House Field.
His visible on-field leadership, his passion, his drive, his standards, his organisation and his general aura are all reasons why he’s the most important man to pull on a red and white shirt not just this season, but ever before. He conducts matters with such ease a position is surely awaiting him at Last Night of the Proms.
We see it, everyone else sees it and his presence in the side is the single most important factor why Sunderland have just enjoyed their best season since arguably 1955, and I couldn’t be prouder to say that.
John Wilson says…
If one player has to be given this award for all he’s done for this club both on and off the field, it would have to be Granit Xhaka.
I’ve awarded Enzo Le Fée too many ‘man of the match’ awards so in the interests of variety — and assuming most other writers agree — I’ll stick with the captain.
His purchase was unbelievable and I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when he met Kyril Louis-Dreyfus. What exactly did he say to sell Xhaka the project, and what did he offer him in terms of future incentives regarding coaching, etc?
One thing is certain: his signing had a magnetic affect on other signings, and that set the ball rolling.
I’m sure we’ve all watched him on the pitch — pointing, shouting, directing, praising, clapping. A player can have a pass in mind, but then Xhaka points somewhere else and the player changes his original course. He truly is the manager on the pitch.
Indeed, in a recent press conference, Régis Le Bris admitted that he lets Xhaka give the final motivational words before going on the pitch. He’s one of those people that when he walks into a room, you know people stop and listen.
He has a command and a magnetism; an aura that makes you want to listen and be inspired, so both for on and off-pitch reasons, he’s our player of the season, if not one of the greatest signings the club has ever made.
As he said on the pitch after Sunday’s victory: this is only the beginning.
Jonny Hawley says…
It’s Xhaka, and if we’re all being honest, it isn’t particularly close.
I appreciate the other fellas backing some of the other lads in the team, and plenty of them do deserve a hell of a lot of plaudits, but it’s Xhaka — how could it not be?
He logged the joint-most assists from the base of midfield. He ran games all season, acted as a manager on the pitch, covered more ground than most players in the league — including plenty ten years his junior — and he looked bloody cool while doing it!
He’s the best football player to ever pull on a Sunderland shirt, for me. He just captained a promoted side to seventh and the Europa League.
Will we ever see an individual player instantly transform a football club to that extent — a football club that just went through eight or nine years of hell like we did? I don’t think so.
Thank you, Granit.
Malc Dugdale says…
This may not be a popular choice, but I’m going to go with Trai Hume — with an honourable mention for Luke O’Nien, as the same logic applies for him too.
This isn’t because Hume is anywhere like the football player that Granit Xhaka, Brian Brobbey or Le Fée are, but because of the fact he had one of the biggest step ups to make this season compared to others who clearly had the experience and God-given talent to make it at this level.
Along with that, his goal on Sunday helped seal our Europa League spot — and what a finish it was, too. The bloke came to us from the Emerald Isle when we were in League One and has gone from strength to strength across the years.
Fair enough, he’s occasionally been caught out the back, but all Premier League defenders have the odd bad day and the way he’s adapted his game, working hard in that hybrid midfield berth and giving us the combination of defensive strength, the odd goal and the ability for his teammates to under and overlap when needed takes some real talent.
The bloke is a huge success story, and if he does end up going to another big European club, I couldn’t be happier, as long as the money is right.
He’ll always be the bloke I shared a Guinness with after the playoff win; a cracker of a Sunderland signing, and for all those reasons, he gets this honour for me too.
Michael Dunne says…
It has to be Granit Xhaka.
I’ve never seen an individual single-handedly lift the standards, ambition and success of a club, and his leadership has been inspirational to his fellow teammates but also the fanbase.
His arrival has brought this team into relevance whilst also create new leaders. As we head into European football, his experience of this competition will be vital and it will be fascinating to see how it all goes. The signing of Xhaka was one of the shrewdest pieces of business I’ve ever seen.
Special mentions for the likes of Enzo Le Fée, Nordi Mukiele and Brian Brobbey, who’ve also made enormous contributions to our success.
Tom Albrighton says…
There can only be one answer to this, so to make it fair, I think we should re-ask the question: “Who was your Sunderland player of the season who wasn’t Granit Xhaka?”
Once that’s cleared up, for me it would be Enzo Le Fée, who when put simply, is perhaps the most talented individual to wear the red and white of Sunderland. It’s insane to think not only did he cost a mere £20 million, but that we also had him in the division below.
So why do I love him so? Well, I challenge anyone to find a player who gives so much, is as combative as he is talented and who showed it on such a regular basis.
In every game, he had several moments of standout quality that allowed him to continually reward the faith Régis Le Bris showed in him.
To put it simply, Le Fée has been the kind of player you turned up every week with that childlike excitement you had all those years ago, hopelessly enamoured by his talent and panache.
C’est magnifique!
