Manchester City attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has become the first male player from the club to win the Professional Footballers' Association's (PFA) Player of the Year award. Chelsea's Bethany England, meanwhile, bagged the award in the women's category.
"Chelsea's Bethany England and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne have been crowned PFA Players' Player of the Year for 2020," PFA said in a statement.
De Bruyne beat teammate Raheem Sterling and the Liverpool quartet of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane, and last year's winner, Virgil van Dijk, to the 2019/20 prize.
The Belgian had a fantastic season, which also saw him named in the PFA's Team of the Year for the second time.
Expressing elation over winning the accolade, De Bruyne said it is a "big honour".
"It is a big honour. To be voted by your colleagues, your competitors from other teams who we play against on the field, is amazing," the club's official website quoted De Bruyne as saying at the virtual ceremony.
"It is maybe strange that I'm the first one at City, with all the good players who played there before and are still playing, but it is nice to represent the club. I think it is [the ultimate honour] because you compete against them [fellow professionals]. They want to win the trophies; they want to be the best. It is everybody voting, not a few players, so that means you have done really well in the season," he added.
The 29-year-old was directly involved in more goals than any other player in the Premier League. With 13 goals to his name, De Bruyne also had 20 assists which equalled Thierry Henry's 17-year record in the Premier League.
