The biggest surprise for every Premier League team in the 2024-25 season

When a Premier League season begins, somebody might look at a club and say, “This player is going to be the best player for them.” And then, yeah, they are. When you say Mohamed Salah is going to be Liverpool’s MVP, that’s not exactly a bold claim, nor is it a surprising result. However, what about the X-factors, the surprises? A young player can emerge out of nowhere. An under-the-radar transfer can pop. Sometimes, that surprising player also turns out to be the club’s MVP. To that end, here is the player for every Premier League club that raised our eyebrows this season.

Mikel Merino was a fine addition to Arsenal’s midfield, but he had been a star in Spain and just been part of that country’s Euro 2024 win. Nwaneri wasn’t expected to deliver much this season, though. He was, after all, only 17 when the season began. Owing to injuries, though, Mikel Arteta decided to see if Nwaneri was ready to play at the Premier League level. The teenager made 26 appearances, 11 of them starts, and notched four goals and three assists. He had more goals than Martin Odegaard!

Jhon Duran was the number-two attacking option behind Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa. Then, during the January transfer window, he took that Saudi money to go play for Al-Nassr. Watkins was going to be able to do his thing, but somebody had to step up. That somebody was Rogers, who joined Villa from Middlesbrough during the campaign last season. He picked up eight goals and 10 assists, making him only one of nine Premier League players to have double-digit assists.

Bournemouth had a couple acclaimed young defenders, both of whom it will assuredly lose this offseason. It already managed losing Dominic Solanke to Spurs early in the 2024-25 campaign. Justin Kluivert led the way with 12 goals, but he had seven last year in a supporting role. He just kind of stepped up as expected. Ouattara, though, a Burkina Faso international, had scored exactly one goal in each of the prior two seasons for Bournemouth. This season, he popped for seven goals, and added four assists for good measure.

Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa got the goals for Brentford. Same as it ever was. This year, Mbeumo and Wissa were joined as attacking midfielders by Damsgaard. The Dane had a small role for Brentford in prior seasons, but this year he not only notched two goals, but added 10 assists. Damsgaard was helping out his goal-scoring teammates this year.

With Pascal Gross leaving Brighton, midfielders needed to step up. Kaoru Mitoma, whose only issue has been staying healthy, stayed healthier and produced in his larger role. Baleba, though, then sort of stepped into the Mitoma role. The Cameroonian made 31 starts for Brighton, and he notched three goals and put 10 shots on net. He’s only 21 and didn’t have a single goal last season, so that was a step up.

Chelsea has thrown money at all sorts of players over the last few years, and it’s been a spotty return. Madueke was one of those players, brought over from PSV Eindhoven and signed to a seven-and-a-half year deal right away. Cole Palmer led the club in goals, and Nicolas Jackson was second. Neither was a surprise. Madueke, though, chipped in seven goals to be third on the team, and he added three assists as well.

Palace’s usual suspects delivered, and the best defender on the team was, of course…Munoz? We’d fully argue that Munoz was better than Marc Guehi this year, or at least as good. He had more goals, more assists, and more shots on net. Granted, the right back also was happy to foul anybody he could, but this is a guy who, when last season started, was playing for Genk. He wasn’t supposed to be a key cog for an FA Cup winner.

Everton was bad offensively — Jordan Pickford was the club’s MVP — so every goal counted. Ndiaye helped out there by leading the team with nine goals. That must have felt like found money given that Ndiaye scored three goals for Marseille last season. Of course, there also was possibly an element of luck to it, as the Senegalese international only put 16 shots on target. That level of conversion isn’t likely to happen next season, but let’s celebrate him for now.

Rowe was once viewed as part of the future for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta let him take over wearing the number 10, and he did respond with 10 goals in 2021-22. However, as Arsenal’s ambitions got serious, he fell into being a deep rotation player. Fulham signed him for a club-record transfer fee but, well, it is Fulham. Fortunately for the club, moving from one area of London to another revitalized the still-young Rowe. As an attacking midfielder he chipped in six goals and three assists. Another season like that, though, and Fulham and Rowe might be thinking it’s time to move him to a richer club for a bigger transfer fee.

With the season Ipswich had (i.e. terrible), anything positive was rare. Liam Delap was a positive, so much so he’s now heading off for big transfer money. Making matters worse, Enciso was playing for Ipswich on loan from Brighton, so guess where he will be next year? The 21-year-old Paraguayan made a splash with Ipswich, though, managing two goals and three assists and generating some degree of attack from the midfield.

Leicester has a chance to keep on yo-yoing, but the team will look different. Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew, unsurprisingly, played key offensive roles, but both are in the thirties and are not going to be part of the next viable version of Leicester. Mavididi joined the club last year when it was in the Championship, and he turned heads with 12 goals. Playing at a level of competition higher than Ligue 1 for the first time in his career, Mavididi scored four goals and had an assist. It’s also plausible he’ll still be around to play in the Championship next year.

Arne Slot deserves credit for Liverpool winning the title, but the team was comprised entirely of Jurgen Klopp’s guys. By and large, the players who have been delivering for years delivered this year. Yeah, Mohamed Salah had the best season of his career, but he was already well-established as one of the five best Premier League players of the century. However, one player did flourish under Slot who never did much under Klopp. That would be Gravenberch. There was so much sweating Liverpool’s need for a deep-lying midfielder during the offseason. Instead, Slot just unleashed Gravenberch as one of the best defensive midfielders in football.

It speaks to the level of success City has had for years now that “only” finishing third and making the FA Cup final qualifies as a bit of a disappointment. The team will look different next year to some degree, and there are two players who emerged this year that will likely have key roles next season. One is Omar Marmoush, a fine addition during the January transfer window. Savinho is only 21 and has already made 13 appearances for Brazil, which tells you plenty about his talent. Doing something akin to being a less-exasperating Jeremy Doku, Savinho delivered a goal, eight assists, and 21 shots on target in his first season with City. Another star is emerging in Manchester Blue.

Man United apparently can’t have nice things right now, as even Amad’s most recent bit of headline-making involved him saying he has “no regrets” over an “obscene gesture” he made. Of course, nobody will be having sympathy for Manchester United anytime soon. Amad also did have his breakthrough season, finally playing a proper Premier League campaign. Though he appeared in only 26 contests, Amad scored eight goals, tied for first on the club, and had six assists as well — good for the team's second-most.

A lot of the players on this list were young and broke through, or who had joined a new club on a transfer that didn’t make major waves. What got into Murphy, though? He turned 30 during the season and has been on the books with Newcastle since the 2017-18 season. Never before had he really popped like this. In addition to his eight goals, double his previous high, the midfielder had 12 assists. Only Salah had more!

This year, Chris Wood getting 20 goals wasn’t surprising. The surging Anthony Elanga also did not surprise. Anderson came over from Newcastle, where he didn’t make much of an impact. He contributed nicely in his age-22 season. The midfielder played in 37 games, and while he chipped in two goals, he had seven assists as well.

Did anything good happen for Southampton this season? Relatively speaking, yes! For example, by dint of being so terrible, Southampton was able to give the 19-year-old Dibling his first taste of Premier League action. This was a guy who only made one appearance in the Championship last year, so this was a real step up. Dibling held his own, relatively speaking. He played in 33 games, had two goals, and drew 50 fouls while committing 30.

When you finish 17th in the Premier League, things don’t play out great. Beyond the usual guys, and also addition Dominic Solanke, Tel showed up to spark Spurs. He had two goals on nine shots on target and picked up an assist in 13 games. Why did he play in just 13 games, though? Well, the 20-year-old Frenchman was on loan from Bayern Munich.

After a season crushing it in the Championship for Leeds, Summerville earned a move to West Ham. The Dutchman served as, well, maybe not a super sub, but an impressive sub. Mostly appearing off the bench, Summerville had a goal and an assist. However, he also drew 23 fouls in only 19 games, 12 of which he came off the bench for. Among players under 25 on the Hammers, Summerville showed the most potential.

Larsen popped with Groningen in the Netherlands, and earned a move to Celta Vigo. He then proved up to the task in Spain, thus earning the move to England. The 25-year-old didn’t just show up and contribute for Wolves — he was its second-best player, and close to being the club’s MVP. The Norwegian had 14 goals. Matheus Cunha had 15. Nobody else on the club had more than four. Larsen added four assists for good measure.