With five games to go in the 2024/25 Premier League season, the title is Liverpool’s in all but formality. Leicester are relegated. As are Southampton. Ipswich will undoubtedly soon follow. In the remaining weeks, the surge for European places will provide the only entertainment factor that the Premier League prides itself in.
That is not to say talking points have been non-existent. Liverpool’s 20th league title sees them match Manchester United’s record tally – are they know England’s greatest team? All three promoted clubs look set to return to the Championship after just one season, for the second consecutive year – is the gap between the top two leagues becoming a dangerous chasm?
Yet this season can perhaps be defined by a further shift, that seems to have gone largely unnoticed.
There has been a lack of exceptional individual quality in the Premier League this year
In 2000/2001, Thierry Henry, Michael Owen and Teddy Sheringham all sat in the top ten goalscorers. Fast forward five seasons, and it was Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba. Three seasons ago Harry Kane, Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne, all made it.
This year, you’ll find Chris Wood, Bryan Mbeumo, and Yoane Wissa. These players’ ability and brilliance this season are not to be questioned, yet they feel like a completely different kind of player to either Kane or Owen. They don’t decide games on their own: they’re simply fantastic focal points of well-oiled machines.
There is no battle for Player of the Year. To even be within touching distance of Mo Salah’s ludicrous contributions would be impressive, admittedly.
Yet this season, few players have stood above the rest. Erling Haaland and Bukayo Saka’s time on the sidelines has hampered their performances, but is the Premier League so bereft of star quality that two injuries result in these discussions?
Many, like Ryan Gravenberch and Jacob Murphy, have had sustained purple patches, while others, such as Cole Palmer and Justin Kluivert, have produced magnificent 90-minute displays. Across the whole season, it is a different story. Few can claim to have been consistently outstanding.
Perhaps this is due to the strength of some teams as a whole. Arsenal, Newcastle, and Nottingham Forest have benefited from individuals, but it is their consistent performances across the whole team, alongside elite management, that has led to their successful campaigns. It is a similar tale for Bournemouth, Brighton and Fulham’s brief flirtations with European places.
Much of the individual attacking quality has actually come from the bottom half of the league table, with Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha and the aforementioned Mbeumo gems amongst the rough. It is not just in attack, either: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Dean Huijsen and Antonee Robinson all have valid claims for a position in this season’s Team of the Year. The best XI’s from previous seasons are star-studded. Bluntly, this year will not be.
Nostalgia often clouds judgement. It is easy to watch highlights of Robin van Persie or Fernando Torres and suggest that players cut from the same cloth are rare these days. But watching this season leads to the view that a spark and flair has been missing.
Maybe football is becoming increasingly robotic. Maybe this is a one-off season due to injuries and form. Only time will tell if the apparent absence of individualistic genius this season is a cause for concern.
