Gary Neville And Jamie Carragher Name Player, Manager And Signing Of The Season
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Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher picked their Premier League end-of-season awards on Monday Night Football, as they disagreed on the signing of the season.
The duo both agreed that the player of the season should be Manchester City's breakthrough star, Ruben Dias, with Carragher comparing the defender to the likes of Carles Puyol and John Terry.
Both also picked his teammate, 20-year-old sensation Phil Foden, as the young player of the year. However they took a different route on the season's best signing as Neville picked Manchester United's veteran striking ace Edinson Cavani, while Carragher chose midfielder Tomas Soucek from surprise package West Ham.
"The goals he gets from the midfield and the combination with Declan Rice. We can talk about teams having great seasons, but the turnaround at West Ham has been huge," said Carragher, per Sky Sports.
On Cavani, Neville explained: "If Cavani hadn't worked and it had become another [Radamel] Falcao then they would have become a laughing stock - 'United have got it wrong again'... There was a risk and it has paid off handsomely."
When it came to Dias, Manchester United great Neville compared the 23-year-old to some of the top centre-backs he played with, marvelling: "Dias has surprised me, dominating like he has for someone so young. I played with Jaap Stam, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand... Dias is one of those who makes the rest of the team safe."
Carragher called Dias a defining signing for Pep Guardiola, explaining: "I said on this show at the start of the season that if this signing didn't work, it would be the end of City and Pep.
"You might think that's a huge statement, but he was a £65 million defender. They never replaced Vincent Kompany and last season that was a huge blow for them but he has come in and been the best defender in the league - and for me the best player."
:star: Player of The Year
- Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 10, 2021
:arrow_right: Gary Neville - Ruben Dias
:arrow_right: Jamie Carragher - Ruben Dias@GNev2 & @Carra23 reveal the winners of the MNF Premier League awards pic.twitter.com/oz5GIfs3Y7
Both saved the highest praise for Foden, with Neville calling him the best young English player since Wayne Rooney and calling him a "once-in-a-generation type player".
The pair also agreed on their manager of the season (to a point). Both said Guardiola, but Neville added that the result of the Champions League final could change his mind.
"If [Thomas] Tuchel wins the Champions League, the FA Cup and Chelsea finish in the top four then it's him," he said. "Brendan Rodgers has done brilliantly and you do have to balance off the budget and the players these managers have. Rodgers and Sean Dyche are exceptional managerial performances - and David Moyes at West Ham has been exceptional too."
:trophy: @GNev2 and @Carra23 have handed out their end of season Premier League awards :point_down:
- Sky Sports (@SkySports) May 10, 2021
Liverpool legend Carragher picked out why Guardiola has been so great this season, commenting: "I actually think this is one of Pep's greatest achievements because that spine of Vincent Kompany, David Silva are not there and even Sergio Aguero hasn't played that many games.
"The legends who have built City's success over the last decade are not there, Pep has created something different."
Both men also picked their Premier League teams of the season, which you can marvel at here.
Imagery Sky Sports/PA Images
