Rio Ferdinand names Man Utd, Man City and Sunderland stars as Premier League signings of the season

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The 2025/26 Premier League season came to a close on Sunday, and Rio Ferdinand has now shared his verdict on the best player, manager and signings of the season.

Arsenal clinched the Premier League title ahead of Manchester City during Pep Guardiola’s final campaign at the Etihad.

Elsewhere, West Ham were relegated ahead of Tottenham, while Sunderland were the surprise package of the season, and Ferdinand has now named Granit Xhaka as one of the best signings of 2025/26, along with Antoine Semenyo and Senne Lammens.

Granit Xhaka, Antoine Semenyo and Senne Lammens named signings of the season

Taking to X/Twitter on Tuesday, the former Manchester United man gave an overall verdict on the most recent Premier League campaign.

He wrote: “Premier League been a belter… title race down to the wire! Congrats to Arsenal… United jump from 15th to 3rd + back in UCL. Gutted to see West Ham relegated, needs big changes for their future!

“Shout out to Bournemouth, Sunderland + Brighton. Special mention to Keith Andrews at Brentford, thought it was going to [be] tricky. One thing that needs fixing next season – VAR.”

He then listed his Player of the Season, Manager of the Season, biggest achievers, and his three signings of the season:

“Player of the season – Bruno Fernandes. Manager of the Season – Mikel Arteta. Biggest Achievers – Sunderland. Signing of Season – Xhaka / Lammens / Semenyo.”

Who made the Premier League Team of the Season?

While Xhaka had an impressive campaign with Sunderland, seeing them secure European football, he did not make Opta’s 2025/26 Premier League Team of the Season.

Instead, the eleven was, as expected, largely made up of Arsenal and Manchester City players, with Man Utd, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Liverpool each having one representative.

• GK: David Raya
• RB: Mateus Nunes
• CB: William Saliba
• CB: Gabriel
• LB: Adrien Truffert
• CM: Dominik Szoboszlai
• CM: Declan Rice
• CM: Elliot Anderson
• RW: Rayan Cherki
• ST: Erling Haaland
• LW: Bruno Fernandes

Sunderland fans may well feel Xhaka should have taken Szoboszlai’s place in that team, given the Hungarian played half the season at right-back.