Clinton Morrison has said that one Manchester City player has been better than Cole Palmer this season.
The winger waved goodbye to the Manchester club during the previous summer transfer window to join Chelsea in a deal worth £42.5m.
Since then, the 21-year-old has scored 20 goals and delivered nine assists in 27 Premier League appearances across all competitions prior to today’s match against Aston Villa.
Despite that, one pundit reckons City have someone in their squad who is more deserving of the Player of the Season award than Palmer.
Pundit says ‘world-class’ Man City star has been better than Palmer this season
Speaking in a recent edition of Team Talks by Premier League Productions (via Optus Sport), Morrison had this to say when asked who he thinks the standout player has been in the top flight this season.
He said: “Phil Foden, you know Phil Foden, world-class. 100 per cent Player of the Season.
“(Ahead of Cole Palmer?) Yeah, why not? It is a debate. I think Palmer will get Young Player of the Year, but if City win the league Foden has to be Player of the Year.”
Cole Palmer vs Phil Foden
Across the campaign, Foden has excelled in his attacking and defensive play in comparison to his former City teammate.
For example, from an attacking point of view, while the 23-year-old may not have as many goal contributions as Palmer, he has made more shots on target (40 vs 31), key passes (64 vs 52) and carries into the penalty area (53 vs 35).
Then from a defensive perspective, the City star has made more successful tackles (18 vs 12), blocks (22 vs 17), clearances (17 vs 11) and recoveries (116 vs 84) than Palmer.
In terms of their overall performances, Foden’s rating of 7.52/10 from WhoScored puts him above the Chelsea winger, who has earned himself a similarly strong season rating of 7.44/10.
In our view, while both players have had stellar individual seasons, we agree with Morrison that if Foden can end up winning another Premier League title for his side next month, this should give him the edge over Palmer in terms of being named as the Player of the Year.