The Best Young Player Candidate for Premier League Season: 8 Rising Stars, Who Will Win?

As the season is coming to an end, it is time for various awards to begin to be released one after another. On May 24, the Premier League season's Best Young Player Award will be released, and the following 8 players aged 23 or under are on the final shortlist.

Liam Drapp is the first player in the Premier League to play for a relegation team but won the award nomination. Ipswich was relegated early, but the local young forward was a very shining presence. His extremely sharp running style and physical confrontation style are always a big trouble for opponents to defend. 12 of the team's 35 league goals this season are from Drapp, and only Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood (35.7%) accounts for a higher proportion of team goals (34.3%) than him this season. Of the 65 non-penalty shots, 25 of them were completed after the boy dribbled the ball for at least 5 meters. This Manchester City youth training player is one of the elite ball holders in the Premier League today. He can move at an average of 14.2 meters per dribbling, ranking second among all players who have played for more than 500 minutes. Although the team is relegated, fans will still have a high probability of continuing to see this young man in the top league field next season.

Drapp is second on average dribbling distance, and the first is another person on this shortlist, Anthony Ellanga of Nottingham Forest. As a key figure in the Red Forest Counterattack Storm, among all players who played for at least 1,000 minutes, Ellanga dribbled at 14.5 meters per dribbled at the opponent's goal, and the average vertical advancement distance to the opponent's goal was 11 meters. The individual dribbled forward ratio (76.4%) was the first in the league. The long-distance raid against Manchester United in April was the farthest personal advancement of the Premier League this season. He has contributed 10 assists this season, and as long as he assists once, he can officially become the champion of the single-season Premier League assists in Forests' history. He has a good chance of doing this.

Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberger helped Liverpool win the 20th England Top League Championship in the history of the team. In the Klopp era, he played more as the No. 8 position. He played in 38 games in various competitions last season, including 21 starts, with only three consecutive starts. However, under the account of the new coach Slott, he became the No. 6 position of the team and became the main force of the team. He has played for 4048 minutes this season, far exceeding the 1838 minutes last season. He became the absolute axis of the Reds' high-level pick-up, and the league's high-level pick-ups (44 times) were more than any other player in the club, with 8 of them helping the team form a goal. No teammate has been able to get possession back from opponents as frequently as he does (185 times), and interceptions (57) are second only to West Ham's Aaron Wan-Bisaka (61 times). After the transformation, the 22-year-old Dutch is becoming the top midfield iron gate in football.

Dean Wyson was not even a regular Bournemouth player 6 months ago. He switched from Juventus last summer and didn't splash. However, he has become one of the best air defense players in the Premier League, with a success rate of air confrontation reaching 60.6%. But as a star-level star, Wyson is not a rough man and can also participate in the organizational offense of the backcourt team. Among the central defenders who played more than 1,500 minutes this season, Wyson scored 4.1 forward goals per 90 minutes, ranking third in the league. He is now the number one prey of Real Madrid, and the White Legion will likely spend a lot of money on him this summer. The team spent £15.2 million to buy him (18.2 million for the triggering additional terms), and once they are sold, they will likely get a 2-3-fold return. This is definitely a good deal.

Cole Palmer was the winner of the award last season. He is actually the first player to win the award without playing for the championship team. However, the 33 participating goals (goals + assists) data were too explosive, and there was no suspense about this award being awarded to him last season. Nowadays, few people still regard Palmer as a new star, but instead evaluate him based on the standards of a top star in the Premier League. He started the season very well, contributing 11 goals and 6 assists in the first 15 games, but he has fallen into a downturn in the past 20 games, with only 4 goals and 2 assists. However, that's true. Palmer's total number of opportunities created (85 times) is still ranked second in the league (second only to Fee B), and his live ball opportunities created (69 times) is second only to Salah this season (82 times). His most prominent moment this season was the first half-time big-time big-time win against Brighton at the beginning of the season, which was also the first player in Premier League history to score 4 goals before halftime.

Brighton, the victim of Palmer's first half, also has new stars worth paying attention to this season. Joao Pedro proves that he has a bright future with his actual performance. He contributed 10 goals and 6 assists in 27 appearances this season, with an average of one goal every 122 minutes. He is the only four players in the Premier League with at least five penalty points and guaranteed 100% shooting percentage (5 of 5 shots). He is also one of the players with the highest success rate in Premier League history, reaching 9 of 10 free throws. This seems simple, but in history, the Premier League has been able to maintain this accurate player with more than 10 penalty points, which is 20 players. Moreover, many of Pedro's penalty kicks were exchanged by himself. This scene has happened three times this season, and is also ranked second in the league.

In February 2024, Aston Villa introduced striker Morgan Rodgers from the Championship team Middlesbrough for 8 million pounds, and the additional cost may even reach 15 million pounds, shocking and questioning the outside world. However, in just over a year, the young man broke these doubts. He has contributed 8 goals and 9 assists this season. Only 16 players in the Premier League have tried 50+ shots and created 50+ opportunities for teammates this season. Rodgers is one of them.. His threat creation ability is already the elite level of the Premier League, with the expected number of goals in the open game reaching 7.6 ranking third in the league, behind Salah (13) and Jacob Murphy (8.8).

William Saliba, who has experienced multiple loans, is no longer Wu Xia Amon. His name has been frequently discussed as one of the best defenders in the league. This season, 150 players in the Premier League faced their opponents at least 60 dribbling attempts, and in one-on-one defense, no one has a higher defensive success rate than Saliba. The Frenchman encountered this situation 78 times, of which 62 times he intercepted the ball without a foul. His air defense capability is also top-notch, completing 62.2% of the air confrontation, which is higher than the average level of league defensive players (57%). Even if the goal is played in the backcourt, no player has ever had a higher pass success rate in open games than Saliba (94.4%). There are many giants who lack central defenders at present. Once Saliba enters the transfer market, it is likely to trigger another astronomical number. Of course, Arsenal's first choice is to hold it for a long time.

As for who will become the winner of this season, please wait and see.