Ex-Sunderland striker Goodman slots into that category, with a man who spent three years on Wearside as a player - speaking in association with https://kasinoguide.com/betting-utan-svensk-licens/ - telling GOAL: “Would it be outrageous for Granit Xhaka to be voted the PFA Player of the Year? No, it wouldn't. Given that this is the one award that is voted for by fellow professionals, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me at all. He has been incredible, absolutely incredible on and off the pitch. He's driven standards all around the club.
“The lads that got Sunderland promoted from the Championship will all have benefited from the standards that he sets around the place, particularly in training and in games. He demands from himself, but he also places demands on others. There are not many leaders like that around anymore, unfortunately.
“If I was still playing, he would get my vote for PFA Player of the Season, he really would. Not even from a place of bias, but from everything I've seen in the Premier League this season. There are some amazing players, but what he's done and the influence he's had on a team have been outstanding.
“Let's remember that this team finished fourth in the Championship last season. I know there's loads of new signings but then Xhaka has been holding and knitting it all together as well as leading on the pitch, it's been a remarkable effort.
“Genuinely, with no bias whatsoever, he would get my vote. I don't even think Declan Rice would have any issue with Granit Xhaka winning the award. Based on what I've seen of Declan Rice, when I listen to him and what I'm told about him as a character, he’s a great lad.
“If Declan Rice were analysing everything rationally, he's part of a brilliant team that will probably win the Premier League and maybe something incredible. I don't think even he, knowing what I know about him, would think what Xhaka has done at Sunderland hasn’t been incredible.”