The 'Player of the Decade' for every Premier League club

What an incredible decade we’ve seen in the Premier League.

It started with Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea winning the title and could end with the Italian manager in charge of Everton.

We’ve also seen Manchester United win two Premier League's under Sir Alex Ferguson before their collapse when the legendary Scot left.

When Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City their first league title for 44 years with an injury-time winner on the final day of the season to overtake rivals United, we thought we’d seen it all.

But four years later, Leicester shocked everyone by winning the league against all the odds.

Meanwhile, Liverpool still haven't managed to win their first league title - although that could change at the start of the next decade.

But let’s stop talking about the club's and concentrate on their players.

We all know how each Premier League club has done in the past 10 years but who has their best player been this decade?

That’s a question GIVEMESPORT have attempted to answer. To answer this, we’re not necessarily just picking the best player. We’ve taken longevity into account also.

Think of these ten seasons as one campaign and we’re just picking the Player of the Year. One player may have been outstanding for a third of it but if there’s someone who has been very good for the entirety, they will probably get the nod.

Understood? Good.

Arsenal | Alexis Sanchez

It’s crazy to think Alexis Sanchez is Arsenal’s best player of the decade when he could also be Manchester United’s worst player of the decade.

Sanchez played four seasons at the Emirates, scoring 80 goals in 166 appearances.

In his debut season, he notched 25 goals and beat that tally by five goals during the 2016/17 campaign.

He also helped the club win two FA Cups.

Don’t let his spell at United fool you. Sanchez was incredible at Arsenal.

Aston Villa | Jack Grealish

Grealish has been at Aston Villa for the entire decade. However, his breakthrough was during the 2014/15 season in the Premier League.

The midfielder has played 155 times for his boyhood club and has helped get them back into the top-flight as captain.

Still only 24, Grealish is in line to be Villa’s best player of the next decade.

Bournemouth | Steve Cook

Steve Cook initially signed for Bournemouth on 27 October 2011 on a loan deal with the Cherries in League One.

A few months later, he signed for £150,000.

He’s now played almost 300 times for the club and has helped them go from League One to a perennial Premier League side.

Brighton | Lewis Dunk

Brighton born and bred.

Other than a three-game loan spell at Bristol City, Dunk has spent his entire career at the club.

He made his debut in the 2009/10 season with Brighton in League One.

He’s helped the Seagulls earn promotion to the Championship and then the Premier League and is now club captain.

He’s missed just two league matches since Brighton’s promotion and even earned himself a call-up to the England squad.

Burnley | Ashley Barnes

Barnes joined Burnley in January 2014 from Brighton and helped the club earn promotion to the Premier League that season.

In the last two campaigns in the top-flight, he’s missed just three matches, bagging 21 goals in the process.

Barnes is closing in on his 200th appearances at Turf Moor.

Chelsea | Eden Hazard

Having won the club’s Player of the Year award in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2016/17, Hazard takes Chelsea’s Player of the Decade with ease.

After Chelsea signed him from Lille for £32 million in June 2012, Hazard scored 110 goals and helped himself to six major trophies.

He may have since moved on to Real Madrid but he is remembered fondly by the Chelsea fans.

Crystal Palace | Wilfried Zaha

Wilfried Zaha won the club’s Player of the Year award in three consecutive seasons from 2015/16 to 2017/18, before he lost the crown to Aaron Wan-Bissaka last time.

Palace snapped up Zaha from Manchester United and has since played 198 times for the Eagles, scoring 38 goals.

Palace should appreciate the Ivorian while he lasts because he won’t be around too much longer.

Everton | Leighton Baines

The 35-year-old may not be a regular these days but Baines has been a very loyal servant for Everton this decade. He actually signed for the Toffees back in July 2007, but his best years came at the start of the decade.

In 2009/10, he missed one Premier League game before playing all 38 the following season. He achieved that feat again during the 2012/13 campaign. During both of those ever-present seasons, Baines picked up the club’s Player of the Year award, helping Everton finish seventh and sixth respectively.

Leicester | Jamie Vardy

At the start of the decade, Jamie Vardy was playing non-league football for FC Halifax Town.

Ten years on, he’s top of the Premier League goalscoring charts as Leicester look almost certain to qualify for Champions League football.

Vardy signed for the Foxes ahead of the 2012/13 season from Fleetwood, with Leicester in the Championship.

He helped the club achieve promotion and was vital in their incredible 5000/1 feat of winning the Premier League, scoring 24 league goals.

He looks set to beat that this season with 16 goals in 17 league matches, meaning he now has 123 in 288 for Leicester.

Not bad for £1.7 million.

Liverpool | Luis Suarez

We feel bad for not awarding this to Virgil van Dijk but Luis Suarez just edges it based on longevity.

Suarez signed for Liverpool in January 2011 for £22.8 million. What a bargain.

And despite the many controversies, Suarez almost single-handedly led the Reds to Premier League glory with 31 goals in 33 league matches in his final season.

All he had to show for his spell at the club was the League Cup triumph in 2012.

Manchester City | Sergio Aguero

So many options with Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne just three players that were in contention to win Man City’s Player of the Decade.

But we’re giving it to Sergio Aguero.

Aguero arrived at the Etihad in July 2011 for £35 million and he hasn’t stopped scoring since.

Just the 244 goals but he’ll always be remembered for THAT injury-time strike on the final day of the 2011/12 season against QPR to win City their first league title for 44 years.

Club legend.

Manchester United | David de Gea

Obviously.

David de Gea won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year - United’s Player of the Year award - for three consecutive seasons from 2013/14-2015/16. The goalkeeper won it again in 2017/18.

Signed from Atletico Madrid in June 2011 for almost £20 million, De Gea didn’t initially look cut out for Premier League football. But Sir Alex Ferguson persisted with him and who knows the trouble United would be in without De Gea heroics.

Newcastle | Fabricio Coloccini

Fabricio Coloccini started the decade getting Newcastle promoted from the Championship.

He spent the following six seasons keeping them in the Premier League and was club captain for many of those - he was even named in the PFA Team of the Year during the 2011/12 campaign.

Norwich | John Ruddy

Goalkeeper Ruddy joined Norwich in July 2010 with the Canaries in the Championship. He missed just one match that season as they earned promotion to the Premier League, where he remained for three seasons.

In total, Ruddy spent seven seasons as the club’s No.1, making almost 250 appearances before his move to Norwich following the 2016/17 campaign.

Sheffield United | Billy Sharp

Harry Maguire was in contention after winning the club’s Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons during their time in League One.

But we’re giving this one to Billy Sharp due to the fact he’s helped the Blades go from the third-tier to the big time.

This is, of course, his third spell at Bramall Lane but because his two previous stints came before 2010, we won’t take them into consideration.

Instead, we’re looking at the period after Sharp joined Sheffield United from Leeds in July 2015.

In his first two seasons in League One, Sharp scored 51 goals. In the following two campaigns in the Championship, Sharp bagged 36 goals to get them back in the Premier League.

And he even scored on the opening weekend of this season against Bournemouth to earn his side a point.

Southampton | Rickie Lambert

Southampton have seen some incredible players come and go this decade - mainly to Liverpool.

And we’re giving the ‘Player of the Decade’ award to one of them - although he’s not quite as talented as Virgil van Dijk, Adam Lallana or Sadio Mane.

Southampton signed Lambert from Bristol Rovers six months before the start of this decade.

His first two seasons were spent in League One, where he managed 51 goals.

A further 27 saw the Saints get promoted to the Premier League, where he managed 28 in two campaigns before the vultures that are Liverpool started circling.

Tottenham | Harry Kane

Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Christian Eriksen were all considered but there can only be one winner - Harry Kane.

He made his Tottenham debut in August 2011 but his breakthrough campaign didn’t arrive until the 2014/15 season, where he scored 31 goals in all conceptions seemingly out of nowhere.

And he hasn’t looked back since.

He’s now bagged 179 goals for the club and, if he stays at White Hart Lane for the next decade, could go down as their greatest ever player.

Watford | Troy Deeney

Watford have seen multiple managers and a whole host of different players in the 2010s. But one player has remained at the club - Troy Deeney.

He left Walsall for Watford in August 2010 and has played almost 400 times for the club ever since.

Will always be remembered for THAT moment in the playoff semi-final against Leicester, sending Watford to Wembley just seconds after their opponents had missed a penalty.

West Ham | Mark Noble

Mark Noble may not be the greatest player West Ham have seen in the past decade with the likes of Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson all donning claret and blue in the last ten years.

However, Noble has been a regular starter in this West Ham side every single season, never letting his boyhood club down.

Noble is set to make his 500th appearance for the club later this season.

Wolves | Conor Coady

It’s been quite a decade for Wolves.

They started it as a Premier League side but back-to-back relegations during the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons saw them in the third-tier.

But they were soon back in the Championship and current club captain Conor Coady joined them in the summer of 2015. The former Liverpool man has improved immensely under Nuno Espirito Santo and marshals the defence superbly in the back three.

With Coady at the back, Wolves won the Championship with 99 points during the 2017/18 campaign before finishing seventh last season, qualifying for Europe in the meantime.

And Coady is now leading this Wolves side into the knockout stages of the Europa League.