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Robin van Persie during the Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, May 2012.

Where are they now? The 2011-12 Premier League TOTY: RVP, Rooney…

The 2011-12 season was one of the most memorable Premier League campaigns in history but what happened to the players named in the PFA Team of the Year that year?

An epic title race saw champions Manchester United dethroned by Manchester City – Mancini, Balotelli, Agueroooooooo – while Harry Redknapp’s entertaining Tottenham side collapsed in the last third of the season, allowing Arsenal to pinch the final Champions League place.

Elsewhere, Liverpool were languishing in mid-table while all three promoted sides (QPR, Norwich and Swansea) avoided relegation for the first time since 2002.

Such a memorable season was refelcted in the Premier League Team of the Year, which was packed full of household names and some exciting young talent.

And we’ve done some investigating to find out exactly what those 11 players are up to a decade on.

GK: Joe Hart (Man City)

One of the Premier League’s elite goalkeepers during the early 2010s, Hart was an excellent last line of defence as City won the league for the first time since 1968.

But errors increasingly crept into his game and a disastrous Euro 2016, coupled with Pep Guardiola clearly not fancying him, sealed his exit from Manchester City four years later

Subsequent spells at Torino and West Ham were poor and Hart’s career was in danger of entering terminal decline.

Happily, he seems to have found the perfect club in Celtic and he helped them regain the Scottish title from Rangers’ grasp last season.

RB: Kyle Walker (Tottenham)

“I was a bit surprised because defenders don’t normally get these awards and get the limelight as much as the centre-forwards,” Walker said after winning the PFA Young Player of the Year Award.

“If you look at the people I was in with, then it is a great honour to get the award and hopefully there is more to come.”

And the full-back has enjoyed a glittering career in the decade since, winning four Premier League titles with Manchester City and forming an important part of Gareth Southgate’s revitalised England side.

CB: Vincent Kompany (Man City)

Manchester City and Premier League legend, Kompany was announced as Burnley’s new manager earlier this summer and is hoping to lead the club back into the top flight at the first attempt.

Kompany Scoring Against Man Utd

READ: Vincent Kompany: As skilful as a winger, Man City’s rock & Mr Likeable

CB: Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle)

Coloccini was a stalwart at the back for Newcastle for eight seasons, racking up a mammoth 275 appearances in the North East, and the 2011-12 season was his very best on Tyneside.

Despite the handicap of being managed by Alan Pardew, Newcastle were the season’s surprise package and finished just outside the Champions League places in fifth.

Injuries eventually saw the former Argentina international play fewer and fewer games and he left Newcastle following relegation in 2016.

He only retired last year at the age of 39, last playing for Aldosivi in Argentina and is now the Under-20 manager at Venezuela.

LB: Leighton Baines (Everton)

Baines made over 400 Premier League appearances during his career, starring for both Wigan Athletic and Everton, and this was the first of two consecutive seasons he made the PFA Team of the Year.

The left-back also became the first Everton player to be named in the XI since Neville Southall back in 1989-90 and it was just reward for another impressive season at Goodison Park.

A professed lover of guitar music, Baines currently occupies a dual role at Everton, serving as the manager of Everton U18s and as a Professional Development Coach for the Everton Academy.

RM: David Silva (Man City)

Silva is a true Premier League great, having been instrumental in four separate title-winning campaigns, and is arguably the greatest player in Manchester City’s history.

And he’s still strutting his stuff for Real Sociedad. Magnificent stuff.

David Silva Man City

READ: Recalling a David Silva classic: simply asking WHU to let him score

CM: Yaya Toure (Man City)

One of the most transformative signings in Premier League history, Toure bought class and big-match experience to City’s midfield and scored two crucial goals at Newcastle in the penultimate game of the season.

He peaked in the 2013-14 campaign when he scored 20 league goals and registered 13 assists from midfield as City won the league for the second time in three seasons.

But Toure never saw eye to eye with Pep Guardiola and his time at City ended in 2018 after being deemed surplus to requirements.

He joined Olympiacos in Greece before helping China League One side Qingdao Huanghai earn promotion to the Super League before retiring in 2019.

The former Ivory Coast international has since spent time as an assistant coach at Ukrainian club Olimpik Donetsk and Russian side Akhmat Grozny.

CM: Scott Parker (Tottenham)

Parker was at his playing zenith 10 years ago and his inclusion in the PFA Team of the Year was fully deserved.

Having won the Football Writer’s Player of the Year in 2011, despite West Ham’s relegation, Parker joined Spurs for a cut-price fee and was the steadying influence in a midfield that contained Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart.

After leaving White Hart Lane in 2013, Parker wound down his playing days at Fulham before becoming frontman for The Streets entering management with the Cottagers.

He got the club promoted to, then relegated from, the Premier League before becoming Bournemouth boss and getting them promoted too despite complaints about the style of football his team employed en route.

LM: Gareth Bale (Tottenham)

It’s been a pretty quiet decade for Los Angeles FC’s newest signing since his nine goals in 36 Premier League appearances for Spurs in 2011-12…

ST: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Rooney was arguably on the decline by 2012, but United and England’s record goalscorer plundered 27 Premier League goals as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came seconds away from defending their title.

He eventually left Old Trafford in 2017, returning to Everton for a single season before relocating to the US and DC United – where he scored the odd wonder goal or two.

After seeing out his playing career at Derby, the 36-year-old was appointed manager of the Championship side in January 2021. He kept them up at first but was unable to prevent the Rams from slipping to relegation in 2022.

Rooney was recently appointed manager of DC United and has grown an incredibly impressive beard since retiring.

ST: Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

Van Persie won the PFA Player of the Year for scoring 30 league goals and dragging an average Arsenal side to third place, pipping Spurs for a Champions League place on the final day of the season.

But the former Netherlands international left for Manchester United that summer and was the inspiration behind their title-winning campaign in 2013.

The striker failed to hit the same heights under David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal and was sold to Fenerbahce in 2015.

He then finished his playing career back at boyhood club Feyenoord, becoming a coach for the senior side and co-manager of the Under-16s.

Van Persie recently turned down an approach to return to Old Trafford when Erik ten Hag offered him a role behind the scenes, citing that his family had much-needed stability for the first time in a while.


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