- Norwich City’s Player of the Season is set to be announced.
- Josh Sargent won the award for the 2024/25 campaign.
- Why Pelle Mattsson has a strong case to win the award for Norwich.
Norwich City’s Player of the Season for the 2025/26 season should be announced before kick-off against Swansea in the Championship on Saturday.
The club posted a link for supporters to vote for their Player of the Season on socials recently, sparking debate over who will come away with the Barry Butler trophy.
Read Norwich have already looked at Vladan Kovacevic as a possible contender for the award, after his phenomenal performance against Derby County on Tuesday night.
A weird season…
This has been a weird season for the Canaries because of the significant contrast in mood, performances, and results between Liam Manning’s Norwich and Philippe Clement’s Norwich.
If you would have asked a fan to pick their Player of the Season back in October, most probably would have said “no one”. That’s how bad it was.
On top of it feeling like two completely different seasons rolled into one, Norwich have also had potential Player of the Season candidates all-but-ruled out through injury.
Jovon Makama, for example, is the club’s top goalscorer with 13 strikes and looked on course to win the award, yet has been out since February through injury and looks set to end the season with 18 league starts.
That means that the Player of the Season award this year is not an obvious decision, as there has not been a standout attacker who has been fit all season and delivered 20 goal contributions.
The case for Pelle Mattsson
My personal vote went to Pelle Mattsson, who joined from Silkeborg in the aftermath of Marcelino Nunez’s move to Ipswich Town.
The Dane has played in 70% of the club’s Championship matches, which is a big enough percentage to gain entry to the Player of the Season race, and is one of the first names on the teamsheet when available.
Norwich supporters yearned for a tough-tackling defensive midfield player for years before Mattsson arrived at Carrow Road last summer, as the last player who successfully played that role was Ollie Skipp.
This season, the 24-year-old star ranks first in the squad for tackles (2.1) and for interceptions (1.2) per game in the Championship, which shows that he breaks up play more than any other player.
| 25/26 Championship | Pelle Mattsson | Kenny McLean |
| Duels Won per Game | 6.83 | 4.80 |
| Aerial Duels Won per Game | 2.14 | 1.15 |
| Ground Duel Success Rate | 55.7% | 54.2% |
| Aerial Duel Success Rate | 60.2% | 51.0% |
Mattsson does a lot of the ‘dirty work’ in the middle of the park that allows Kenny McLean to focus on his work on the ball, as he is not the most effective player out of possession.
That is not to say that the Dane is poor on the ball, though, because he is also excellent on the ball. No other midfielder in the squad turns on the ball under pressure as well as Mattsson.
Now goals too…
He has also added goals to his game in recent months, scoring three goals in his last six games, and has developed into a complete player for Norwich.
It feels like the former Silkeborg star has more strings to his bow than any other option in the middle of the park, because of what he can offer to the team in and out of possession across the pitch.
Away from just his technical and defensive qualities, Mattsson has also captained the team on occasion this season and seems to always be the first at the scene to back his teammates when there’s a scuffle.
A final plea…
I will not begrudge anyone for voting for McLean, Jose Cordoba, or Kovacevic as their Player of the Season, because it is very much open to debate and there are several players who would be worthy winners.
What I will say for Mattsson, though, is that his journey throughout the season sums up the club’s overall journey.
He struggled at times at the start of the campaign under Liam Manning, most notably with his error for Jaden Philogene’s goal against Norwich at Portman Road, and was branded a flop by some early on in his time in Norfolk.
Yet, since Clement took charge, Mattsson has been as consistent a performer as you could hope to find at Championship level and I am yet to see a more complete central midfielder in the division, even including the league’s Player of the Season Hayden Hackney.
If the Danish star’s name is added to the illustrious list of Barry Butler trophy winners this week, it will be deserved.
