The Premier League returns in just over a month, but the 2019-20 season is still fresh in our minds thanks to the delayed end to the campaign.
Despite the on-again, off-again nature of the just-completed season, a pair of players clearly separated themselves ahead of the rest over the course of the discontinuous schedule. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cream of the Premier League crop came from the top two teams, as Jordan Henderson and Kevin De Bruyne elevated their play — and that of their respective clubs — to great heights.
Manchester City wizard De Bruyne had yet another outstanding season, leading the Premier League in goal involvements (13 goals, 20 assists). The 29-year-old Belgian has been ubiquitous on the score sheet for City since joining the club in 2015, and he's showing no signs of slowing down.
Meanwhile, Henderson was instrumental in Liverpool's title-winning season. The Reds won 90 percent of their Premier League matches when Henderson was in the lineup, and just 63 percent when their 30-year-old captain was unavailable for selection.
In the latest episode of "Shoot-Out," Steve Bower and Greg Brady discuss the two most influential players in England this past season, with Henderson getting the nod from Bower based on Liverpool's championship pedigree.
"He has an enormous amount of influence and respect in that Liverpool dressing room," Bower said. "Jordan Henderson has only lost two of the last 68 Premier League games in which he's played in for Liverpool."
Brady, in advocating for De Bruyne, points out that the City star leads in a different way on the field and makes the already great players around him even better with his considerable influence. "I look at City and I think, 'where are they without Kevin De Bruyne?'" Brady said. "Does Raheem Sterling have the [20] goals he has without Kevin De Bruyne setting him up a good chunk of those 20 times?"
Watch the full show above — in which Bower and Brady also discuss the manager and signing of the season — or on DAZN's YouTube channel.