Kevin De Bruyne was the controversial winner of the latest PFA Men's Players' Player of the Year award.

With football fans waiting in anticipation to find out whether Ruben Dias or Harry Kane would take home the prestigious prize, there was a collective double-take when neither of them triumphed.

Instead, De Bruyne was unveiled as only the third man in history to retain the PFA prize, following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry despite his season being blighted with injuries.

De Bruyne takes PFA Award

Now, it's important to highlight that De Bruyne did indeed enjoy a fantastic campaign because six goals and 14 assists from just 23 Premier League starts is a brilliant return.

But the qualms of so many supporters are in the fact that De Bruyne's stunning season doesn't quite reach the heights of Kane and Dias, which is certainly a fair point to raise.

However, given that the triumvirate of contenders are a centre-back, central midfielder and striker respectively, you're always going to have a tough time making direct comparisons between them.

Harry Winks to Man Utd (Football Terrace)

De Bruyne vs Fernandes stats

As such, here at GIVEMESPORT, we wanted to do some digging into how De Bruyne's 2020/21 contrasts with one of his fellow midfield nominees: Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United.

They are, of course, by no means a like-for-like duo, but there's no denying that their roles across the Manchester battle-lines are very similar and they both enjoyed impressive 2020/21 campaigns.

But which of them comes out on top? Well, that's where the official Premier League stats comparison tool comes in, leaving no stone unturned as to which midfield wizard rules them all.

So, without further ado, sink your knife and fork into the data by checking out whether Fernandes or De Bruyne shone brightest in the Premier League over the last nine months down below:

GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says

I dare suggest that it's a pretty convincing victory for Fernandes as far as the statistics are concerned.

Fernandes scored more goals, created more big chances, played more forward passes, kept more clean sheets, executed more tackles, made more interceptions, won more aerial duels and provided the same amount of assists.

Now, the elephant in the room here is that Fernandes made 37 Premier League appearances compared to De Bruyne's 25, but awards like the PFA prize should still be looking at the season as a whole.

It is no coincidence, after all, that many of the fan complaints with De Bruyne's victory revolved around the fact that the Belgian was out injured for great swathes of the season - and it's a legitimate point to make.

And besides, Fernandes still boasted the higher conversion rate in front of goal regardless of the amount of minutes they amassed respectively. 

And if that's still not good enough, then bear in mind that Fernandes still played more passes forward and amassed more tackles and interceptions this season than De Bruyne did in the 2019/20 campaign where he played 35 times.

So, don't get me wrong, I whole-heartedly, unreservedly believe that De Bruyne is a superior player to Fernandes, but did he have a better 2020/21 season than him in isolation? Absolutely not.