The Liverpool Offside’s Player of the Season: Nathaniel Clyne

After a long season, in the end Liverpool Offside readers favoured consistency when the time came to select their Player of the Season for 2015-16, choosing to give the award to right back Nathaniel Clyne. The defender narrowly beat out attacker Roberto Firmino, who was the slight favourite heading in based on voting month to month and match to match.

In the end, though, it was Clyne, whose only Player of the Month award came way back in August—the first of the 2015-16 season—but who, thanks to his consistency, was only a point off Firmino in month to month voting with both having been voted into the top five at the end of the month on six occasions last season. Firmino had been a slight favourite on account of winning Player of the Month twice, in January and February.

Third in voting was Philippe Coutinho, followed by defender Dejan Lovren. That Coutinho only finished third—and was never a real contender to take the award—is only surprising in as much as the Brazilian playmaker seemed to sweep up every Liverpool award on offer this season from the players’ awards to the golden samba to the Liverpool Echo’s season ending vote.

In post-match and Player of the Month voting, though, Liverpool Offside readers had consistently rated Firmino higher amongst attacking players for most of the year. Coutinho did come on late, winning March Player of the Month, but taking the entire season into account he was always behind Firmino amongst attackers. In the end, though, neither could keep up with Nathaniel Clyne.

Rather surprisingly, too, the top two finishers in Player of the Year voting this year were signed last summer, with Clyne a bargain arriving from Southampton for just £12.5M and Firmino the headliner as he made the switch from Hoffenheim for £29M. Also worth noting was Dejan Lovren coming in fourth in voting, a massive surprise after his terrible first season at Liverpool.