Dusan Tadic was named Player of the Year of the 2020/21 season in the Eredivisie on Wednesday evening. The Ajax attacker survived the last selection and was preferred over Giorgos Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), and Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord). For the first time, the winner was announced during a live broadcast on ESPN by Jan Joost van Gangelen.
The Ajax player participated in all 34 Eredivisie matches last season. In those duels, the captain of Ajax scored fourteen goals and provided eighteen assists. He also improved his statistics for the 2019/20 season, in which he scored 11 goals and 15 assists in 25 games. With Ajax, Tadic seized the national title, in addition to the TOTO KNVB Cup. In July, the attacker signed a new contract, which binds him to the club until mid-2024.
The twenty nominees for the Eredivisie Player of the Year election were Dusan Tadic, Ryan Gravenberch, Davy Klaassen, Perr Schuurs (all Ajax), Donyell Malen, Eran Zahavi, Philipp Max, Jordan Teze (all PSV), Owen Wijndal, Myron Boadu , Jesper Karlsson (all AZ), Riechedly Bazoer (Vitesse), Steven Berghuis, Lutsharel Geertruida, Jens Toornstra (all Feyenoord), Ko Itakura (FC Groningen), Rai Vloet, Robin Pröpper (both Heracles Almelo), Kenneth Paal (PEC Zwolle ) and Georgios Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo).
The list of nominees was compiled on the basis of more than sixty different statistics. Players were judged on the stats appropriate to their position. The second factor is the outcome of the Man of the Match election on ESPN, which was launched from January 2021 and which also allowed the public to have a voice. The sum of these two components determined the list of twenty nominees, ESPN made clear last month. In the end, the vote of the eighteen captains of the past Eredivisie season was decisive in the election.