Very tricky to come up with a fair way of working out who the manager of the season is given club budgets, the job at hand when they took charge, injuries, European commitments etc etc.
But we would suggest a viable method – or at the very least one of the most important factors when coming to a decision – is to look at how managers have improved players at their clubs.
No-one has made more significant strides in that sense than Enzo Maresca. He’s the reason why four Chelsea players make this list of the top ten most improved Premier League players.
Ryan Gravenberch
It does make you wonder what Jurgen Klopp was thinking, doesn’t it? Without wanting to throw too much shade at the soul-selling fizzy drinks ambassador, watching Gravenberch cruise around Liverpool’s midfield as a wonderfully press resistant Fabinho regen we are slightly confused as to how Klopp didn’t see what Arne Slot worked out on day dot: the Dutchman was made for this role.
If Klopp hadn’t left then Gravenberch probably would have done, and while literally no-one would have sided with the midfielder in an It’s Me Or Him ultimatum last season, Liverpool are now very happy it was their legendary manager who left the club over the round peg for a round hole that Klopp mistook for a square.
Moises Caicedo
After a season in the depths of a Chelsea chaos that engulfed nigh on every player signed in the £1bn spree but perhaps Caicedo most of all, the midfield enforcer is back.
Only Antonee Robinson (81) has completed more combined tackles and interceptions than Caicedo (76), whose spring-loaded feet and flexible legs have once again made him the most unpleasant of opponents, whether moving into midfield from right-back or sitting in front of a Chelsea back four which – let’s face it – has been made to look a whole lot more assured than it actually is thanks to the first-class protection he provides.
Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa
Anyone checked on Ivan Toney recently? No? We would suggest Brentford fans are of a similar mind to us in not giving a shiny sh*t about how he’s getting on in Saudi Arabia. That’s in part because we lost a great deal of respect for him for chasing the money in his prime years, but mainly because of the astonishing form of the Brentford double act, who have now scored 19 Premier League goals between them (Mbeumo – 10, Wissa – 9).
We now see them as one, not because Mbeumo and Wissa aren’t excellent individual footballers but in the hope that any potential buyers (because sorry Brentford fans, they will come knocking) sign them as a pair so as not to break up the partnership.
Three goals and three assists in ten games for Toney, by the way.
Noni Madueke
Maresca has clearly realised that Madueke is a player whose feet need to be kept on the ground. He’s been warned on a number of occasions this season that he “needs to do more” – or words to that effect – typically after good performances when the head coach realises that Madueke a) needs a reality check, and b) is in a head space when he can take constructive criticism.
It’s excellent management, and it’s almost as if we can see Madueke maturing with each game he plays because of it; his five goals and three assists tell just part of the story of a season in which he’s become a key part of the England squad.
Matheus Cunha
When not stealing glasses from four-eyed nerds, noogying gingers or giving wet willies to milk monitors, Cunha’s had a very good season. He’s got eight goals, most of them worldies, with his goal contributions in four of the five games in which Wolves have picked up points meaning that without him (or anyone playing in his place) his side would be rock bottom with three points from 16 games.
Assuming he doesn’t dish out too many swirlies or Chinese burns before the end of the season to put suitors off, Cunha won’t be at Wolves come next season.
Nicolas Jackson
Only Erling Haaland (40) and Ollie Watkins (25) have scored more non-penalty goals than Jackson (23) since he arrived in the Premier League. Not bad for the butt of every joke going, including Tim Sherwood referring to him as a “Soccer Aid player” at the weekend ahead of another brilliant finish – of which there have been a varied collection this season – against Brentford.
Didier Drogba was mocked in a very similar fashion when he first arrived at Chelsea, with discriminatory undertones making for a particularly uncomfortable comparison, but Jackson looks to be on a similar path to laugh in the face of those who ridiculed him.
Chris Wood
With 49 goals for Burnley and now 25 for Nottingham Forest, Chris Wood is now one of only two players to be top scorer for two different clubs in the Premier League, along with Alan Shearer (Blackburn and Newcastle). Ipso facto, Premier League legend.
Amad Diallo
Really not that difficult for Amad to improve on last season, having been injured for the first half of the campaign before starting just three games following his return to fitness at the end of December.
Also not difficult for him to stand out for Manchester United this season, but it’s unfair to suggest he’s only been good in comparison to his teammates. The Manchester City goal alone is enough to suggest he’s got more than Something About Him, considering the skill required to pull that off and when he did it, and he’s consistently been in the top two or three performers in every game he’s played under Ruben Amorim, who can take solace in having at least one young buck to mould to his ways at Old Trafford.
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Alex Iwobi
Would quite possibly have been bottom on the list of Hale End academy graduates we expected to fly for Fulham this season, but while Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson have impressed in fits and starts, Iwobi has been really bloody good pretty much throughout this campaign.
There’s now a maturity to his football that has surprised us most of all. He’s typically been a player on the periphery – clearly talented but rarely the guy to grab a game by the scruff of the neck – but is now a leader of Fulham, whom his teammates turn to when they need to get a foothold.
Enzo Fernandez
After 18 months of drudgery from Fernandez at Stamford Bridge, in which rival fans relentlessly mocked Chelsea over his price tag and laboured over some incontestable statistics illustrating his negative effect on the team – including the Blues enjoying an 81 per cent win record without him compared to just 35 per cent with him – things somehow got worse for the World Cup winner at the start of the current campaign.
Chelsea incredibly decided to hand Fernandez the captaincy on the back of his racist chant on international duty, and while we hoped the blowback would be more significant and laster longing (because it was a racist chant), the midfielder’s worked his way into the team and is now looking like something approaching a £105m.
It’s another example of excellent coaching on Maresca’s part as he’s recognised Fernandez’s talents lie further up the pitch, closer to Cole Palmer, where his eye for a pass and the goal means Chelsea now have threats from multiple players and areas of the pitch.
