Swansea City’s ‘Great Escape’ was celebrated in fine style at the Supporters’ Trust & Executive Fund Raising Committee’s Official Players of the Season Awards Dinner at the Liberty.
And once again it was Gylfi Sigurdsson who took home the evening’s top award.
The Iceland international came out on top in the Supporters’ Player of the Year category, which was sponsored by WalesOnline.
The 27-year-old was the overwhelming winner in a category also including Fernando Llorente, Alfie Mawson, Lukasz Fabianski, Tom Carroll and Jack Cork.
In a side that has struggled against relegation all season long, Sigurdsson has often carried Swansea with his quality.
The former Tottenham and Reading man has racked up nine goals and 13 assists this Premier League season, meaning he has been directly involved in just over half of the 43 goals the Welsh club have scored so far this season.
His record stands muster with any of the Premier League’s elite playmakers, including the likes of Eden Hazard, Christian Eriksen and Kevin de Bruyne.
It means he has scooped the award for the second year in a row, having emerged as the victor following an impressive second half of the season last term.
There were two other awards for Sigurdsson, who Swansea will be desperately keen to hang on to this summer in the face of expected interest from the likes of Everton and West Ham.
He was named the players’ player of the year by his peers, while he also scooped the away player of the year gong having scored five of his goals on the road.
The other big winner of the night was the man with whom Sigurdsson had combined so effectively this season; Fernando Llorente.
The pair had combined for six of the Spaniard’s 14 goals this season, the highest by any combination of players in the top flight.
Llorente, 32, had a slow start to life in SA1 but really hit his stride after scoring a late double from the bench in the barely credible 5-4 victory over Crystal Palace.
The goals have flowed regularly since and he is in the top dozen marksmen in the top division with Sunday’s game against West Brom to come.
That tally saw him scoop the top goalscorer award, while he was also named Swansea City’s best newcomer, beating off competition from Alfie Mawson, Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson, all of whom had fine maiden campaigns in South Wales.
Mawson took home the young player of the year prize after completing his rise from the Conference South to the Premier League in a little over three years in fine fashion.
After starting the year on the sidelines, he was handed his debut by Bob Bradley in October and formed an ever-improving centre-half pairing with Federico Fernandez following Paul Clement’s arrival as head coach in January.
He chipped in with four goals, including a stunning volley in the victory over Leicester, as well as featuring on seven of the eight occasions in which Swansea kept clean sheets.
The under-23’s player of the year award went to striker Oli McBurnie, with his team-mates Daniel James and Keston Davies making up the list of nominees following a tremendous season in which the age-grade side completed a league and cup double under Gary Richards and Cameron Toshack.
The Scotland Under-21 international scored 23 goals in total this season, including a brace for the first team in their victory over Peterborough in the EFL Cup during the early stages of the season.
His impressive form earned him five Premier League appearances and high praise from head coach Clement as the first-team boss kept a close eye on the progress of the youngsters.
There was also a Lifetime Achievement Award - sponsored by the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust - for Richard Lillicrap.
Mr Lillicrap, who died aged 56 in 2007, was a key figure in laying the groundwork for the Supporters’ Trust to become a focal point for fans during the early stages of the new Millennium, before his untimely death in 2007.
The award was accepted by his partner Jenny Catchpole.
Under 23’s player of the year (no sponsor)
Nominees: Dan James, Keston Davies Oli McBurnie.
WINNER: OLI MCBURNIE
Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Swansea City Supporters’ Trust
WINNER: RICHARD LILLICRAP
Young player of the year sponsored by Evan Pritchard Contractors
Nominees: Alfie Mawson, Stephen Kingsley, Oli McBurnie
WINNER: ALFIE MAWSON
Away player of the year sponsored by Swans Travel Club
Nominees: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lucasz Fabianski, Alfie Mawson
WINNER: GYLFI SIGURDSSON
Players’ player of the year sponsored by Swansea Chiropractic Clinic
Nominees: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Leroy Fer, Fernando Llorente
WINNER: GYLFI SIGURDSSON
Best newcomer sponsored by Ammcom Ltd
Nominees: Fernando Llorente, Alfie Mawson, Tom Carroll, Martin Olsson.
WINNER: FERNANDO LLORENTE
Top Goalscorer sponsored by Budget Carpets
WINNER: FERNANDO LLORENTE
Goal of the season
Voted for during evening.
Supporters' player of the year sponsored by WalesOnline.
WINNER: GYLFI SIGURDSSON.
