For the second season in a row, Declan Rice has won our men’s Player of the Season after coming on top of the voting in 2025/26.
The midfielder has retained the honour after 44% of our supporters deemed him as our standout individual from an incredible campaign that brought the Premier League trophy back to north London for the first time in 22 years, and saw us reach our second-ever Champions League final.
David Raya came in second, while Gabriel finished in third.
Declan becomes only the sixth player in our history to win the illustrious accolade in back-to-back seasons, following in the legendary footsteps of Liam Brady, Ian Wright and Thierry Henry, as well as current teammates Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
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Icons that have won our men’s Player of the Season
The heartbeat of our midfield, Declan’s versatility has seen him operate in front of our back four or behind our frontline, while his threat from set-pieces was a key component of our title push. He assisted nine goals in all competitions during the campaign, and scored five of his own, including a brace in a key win against Bournemouth in January.
He also created more chances (96), won possession back more often (239) and made more tackles (91) than anyone else in our squad. No outfielder racked more minutes for us than the 4,456 Dec did across his 55 appearances, which also means he has been selected for more than a half-century of matches in each of his three seasons as a Gunner.
His first saw him finish runner-up in the voting for our Player of the Season in 2023/24, before going on to win the next two prizes.
More individual honours this season have come his way, as he was included in the Champions League Team of the Season and was nominated for both the Premier League and PFA Player of the Season awards. He will hope for more honours in the coming weeks, as he is currently part of the England squad at the 2026 World Cup.
Watch the best moments of Declan’s season now by pressing play on the video above.
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Declan Rice meets Lando Norris in Raising the Bar
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