The Premier League has played host to some of the greatest players of a generation over the last 28 years.

From Eric Cantona becoming an icon at Manchester United in the early 1990s to Sergio Aguero rattling home the goals throughout the 2010s, there have been countless superstars in the English top flight since its rebranding.

Thierry Henry was recently voted as the greatest player to ever grace the competition, but we're sure the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard and Alan Shearer will have something to say about that.

And in these uncertain times where much of Europe finds itself in lockdown, various Premier League debates and starting XI challenges have been placed under the microscope.

It's been fun to see fans voting on the Premier League's greatest player in each position, while also challenging their partners to create a team of players they've actually heard off.

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Player of the Season winners

So, here at GIVEMESPORT, we decided to mix those two trends by looking at the select group of players to win the Premier League Player of the Season award and how they might shape up as a team.

Only 25 athletes have ever collected the accolade since it's inception in 1994 and with a hefty 13 of the recipients playing in the forward position, creating an XI was always going to be tough.

But managed it we have and with spectacular results at that, so check out the creme de la creme of Premier League players by perusing the award-winning starting XI down below:

GK - Peter Schmeichel 

Ermm, yeh, we literally had no choice in this position because Schmeichel is the only ever goalkeeper to win the award, but who are we to complain with the Premier League's shot-stopping GOAT?

The United legend won the award for his displays in the 1995-96 season and was regarded as the best 'keeper in the world for much of his time at Old Trafford, winning five titles and playing 398 times.

We wouldn't have picked a different number one even if we had the chance.

CB - Virgil van Dijk

The most recent recipient of the award and, by some people's books, perhaps the greatest centre-back the Premier League has ever seen.

As far as we're concerned, the jury is still out until Van Dijk can experience sustained success with the Reds, but his only full season at Anfield hitherto was the stuff of legend.

The Dutchman guarded Alisson Becker to the Premier League Golden Glove, lifted the Champions League trophy and wasn't dribbled past a single time in club football.

CB - Nemanja Vidic

One of only three players to win the award more than once and the only defender to ever do so.

Vidic was an absolute colossus at the back during eight-year stay at the 'Theatre of Dreams', winning the Champions League in 2008 and collecting five Premier League titles to boot.

CB - Vincent Kompany

It's a little disappointing that Rio Ferdinand and John Terry never won the Premier League's top individual prize, but Kompany completes an absolute brick-wall of a defence as the third and final centre-back winner.

The Belgian was bestowed with the prize for inspiring Manchester City to their first league crown in the modern era, adding a further three titles to the collection before kissing goodbye in 2019.

RM - Gareth Bale

The streets will never forget Bale's performances in the 2012/13 season and the Premier League wished him on his way to Real Madrid by presenting him with their top award.

Bale smashed home a stellar 21 league goals from just 33 matches despite not playing as an out-and-out forward, bagging wonder goals against West Ham, Sunderland and West Brom. 

There were a few options we could have chosen on the wing, perhaps most notably Mohamed Salah, but Bale cutting in from the right-hand side in his prime is a deadly weapon we simply can't pass up on.

CM - Patrick Vieira

Do we prefer him to Roy Keane? That's a tough question, but one we didn't have to answer because Vieira is the only one of the two to bag the award, doing so for the 2000/01 season.

Although there aren't many central midfielders to choose from, we can hardly complain when the captain of the only Premier League team to go a season unbeaten is the man we have to choose.

Yes, we could have selected N'Golo Kante, but even in his best years with Leicester and Chelsea, we're unsure he ever reached the heights of a peak Vieira.

CM - Frank Lampard

For those ready to defend Gerrard and Paul Scholes to the hilt, we hate to break it to you, but neither of them won the POTS award like Lampard did in the 2004/05 campaign.

But with Vieira anchoring the midfield and giving some defensive cover, we think Lampard is the ideal player out of the three anyway to bomb forward and score hatfuls from deep.

The Chelsea icon's record of 177 goals as the Premier League's fifth all-time top scorer is nothing short of astonishing for a player who spent his whole career in midfield.

LM - Eden Hazard

Again, Salah was the only main rival in this position and sorry Liverpool fans, but we're going for a peak Hazard because we think the former Chelsea man is more capable of turning a game on its head on his own volition.

Hazard was a force of nature during the 2014/15 campaign, scoring 14 league goals from out wide, before kissing goodbye to English football last year by bowing out as the player with the most assists.

CAM - Wayne Rooney

The all-time record goalscorer for Manchester United and England strolls into the team as a bridge between our midfield and attack.

Winning the award for a 2009/10 season that saw him score 26 times in the league, Rooney is one of the most talented players the Premier League has ever witnessed and worthy of a place in the team on legacy alone.

ST - Thierry Henry

How on earth could we possibly leave out the GOAT of the Premier League? There, we said it.

It will come as little surprise that Henry is one of the three players to win the accolade twice, doing so in 2003-04 and 2005-06, while also collecting a record four Golden Boots.

The Frenchman also holds the record for the most assists in a single season, surpassing 20 for both goals scored and provided in 2002/03 as well as boasting the second best goal-per-game ratio in the competition's history.

ST - Cristiano Ronaldo

We could have chosen Ruud van Nistelrooy and when you look at their respective Premier League stats, maybe we should have done, but it's Cristiano-flaming-Ronaldo for Christ's sake.

English football might not have witnessed him at this peak - that was still to come at Real Madrid - yet smashing home a record-equalling 31 goals during the 2007-08 season made him the league's only ever Ballon d'Or winner.

We're willing to raise a middle finger to the statistics in order to include arguably the greatest player in history.

An unstoppable team

Now that team would take some serious beating.

Thankfully, to prevent a world in which Freddie Ljungberg would be between the sticks or Kevin Phillips was in the heart of defence, there were just enough defensive players to carve out a back three.

We're pretty sure it would take some getting past, too, considering Kompany, Vidic and Van Dijk are disputably the three toughest centre-backs the league has ever seen, never mind with 'The Great Dane' covering their backs. 

Marry that to a dream strike partnership of Henry and Ronaldo with Rooney providing the ammunition for a team that fans would pay an inordinate amount of money to see in action.

So, if ever you're growing impatient for the Premier League to return, be sure to reminisce on the brilliance the league has witnessed prior - and these 11 players produced moments of class in truckloads.