Ruben Dias wins FWA Footballer of the Year

Manchester City’s talismanic defender Ruben Dias has been named Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers Association.

The centre-back, who was signed in a £65m deal from Benfica last summer, instantly transformed the champions’ defence and has missed just four games as Pep Guardiola’s side reclaimed the Premier League title from Liverpool.

Dias, who was a comfortable winner ahead of Tottenham’s Harry Kane and City teammate Kevin De Bruyne, has also raised the quality of those around him, with centre-back partner John Stones enjoying a resurgent season, while Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko have also shown marked improvements.

“It is a huge privilege. Obviously I could not have done it without the success of the team,” Dias said in an interview with the FWA. “I think me receiving this prize is the major example of how our team works, the way we build our game. It reflects all the togetherness we have on the pitch, how we perform and the spirit that is in the team and with these players.

“Thank you to all my colleagues, the (Man City) staff, the physios, the kit men, the guys in the kitchen, that all bring a smile every day to the training ground to make us feel good, to make us feel ready, to make us feel the best way they can. All those details make a difference at the end.”

Despite City’s outstanding campaign, Dias is already focusing on the next challenge.

“I heard someone from the club say: ‘we live in the middle of the storm’. Sometimes we don’t even have time to celebrate, to think too much about things, we just move on,” he said. We must not shut it off, we just let it go, because at the end of it all, it is beautiful what is happening. But next year it will be a new challenge, a new season - and as a footballer you just need to be hungry every time.”

Dias is only the third player to win the FWA award in his first season in English football. The last defender to collect the trophy, which has been presented since 1948, was Liverpool’s Steve Nicol 32 years ago.

FWA chair Carrie Brown said: “Ruben Dias turned heads soon after his arrival in Manchester, a 23- year-old belying his age with fortitude, steel, a relentless drive for perfection and an almost superhuman ability to read and anticipate phases of play.

“This, while commendable, would not alone qualify a player to win the FWA Footballer of the Year award. One of our founding members, Charles Buchan, prescribed the award to recognise and celebrate a player who ‘by precept and example’ is considered to be the footballer of the year.

“Pep Guardiola improves players, shapes them but at no point, has a new signing arrived into one of Pep’s already trophy-laden teams and exerted such influence.

“Dias has demanded the highest standards which have resulted in the swiftest of upturns in fortune not solely for Dias himself, but team-mates to his left, right, front and centre.

“Ruben Dias is our Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year for his leadership on and off the pitch as much as for the infectious joy he derives from executing the art of defending to perfection.

“I wonder if it is quite poignant that, in a time when so many find their backs against the wall, there is heart to be taken from the joy Dias exudes in standing firm and quelling the storm.

“Perhaps, in this of all seasons, Dias is the leader we all need.”

After doubts over City’s capability of challenging for the title midway through the season, they are now on the brink of perhaps the greatest achievement in the club’s history, with the Champions League final against Chelsea to be played on 29 May in Portugal, while Guardiola’s side also won their fourth League Cup in succession.

Additional reporting by PA