Premier League 2016-17 review: signing of the season

Welcome to theguardian.com review of the 2016-17 Premier League season. Now that the campaign has ended we would like you to help us choose your favourite goal, the best referee and the best manager, and other winners in a total of 10 categories. We have nominated some contenders but this is just to get the discussion going: we would like your suggestions so that we can compile the best into final polls that you can vote on. The polls will be published at midday on Wednesday 24 May, so please tell us what you think. Thanks

David Luiz (Chelsea)

Loud was the laughter that greeted the announcement Chelsea were to re-sign David Luiz from Paris Saint-Germain for a sum estimated to be in the region of £34m last summer. With the benefit of a season’s worth of hindsight, only the most contrarian of his critics could argue the likeable Brazilian was anything other than a bargain. A defensive rock and natural leader who rarely put a foot wrong during Chelsea’s imperious title-winning campaign, David Luiz will forever be tainted by that semi-final humiliation at the 2014 World Cup, on an evening when the entire Brazil team had a collective meltdown and singling any one individual out for ridicule seemed rather unfair. With his distinctive hairstyle, he tends to stand out when he makes mistakes, allowing his detractors in the press box, TV studios and stadium stands to pounce on the increasingly rare occasions he gets things wrong. Their silence this season has spoken volumes. Nevertheless, despite all available evidence to the contrary, some still cling to the defeat against Germany in their efforts to argue the 30-year-old is a joke. While he prepares for the final assault on his fifth major honour across two short spells as a Chelsea player, one can’t help but wonder who’s laughing now?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)

Even on one leg, he continues to amaze. While it’s advisable to take anything Mino Raiola says with a shovel-full of salt, the garrulous agent’s assertion that surgeons were so impressed with his client Zlatan’s Ibrahimovic’s injured knee that they would like to use him for research purposes brought a wry smile to those of us who wondered if the 35-year-old might struggle to make an impression playing in the Premier League for the first time. A free transfer, albeit one who is rumoured to be trousering £367,640 per week and who almost certainly got a hefty signing on fee for both himself and his representative, Ibrahimovic scored 28 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions for Manchester United – a fairly astonishing feat when one considers Marcus Rashford has been United’s next most prolific scorer this season with 11. Ibrahimovic also has nine assists to his name and we can only speculate how much more he might have contributed to the cause if his season hadn’t been curtailed by injury and he was playing in a Manchester United team managed by somebody other than than the risk-averse and ridiculously negative José Mourinho. Without his input, Manchester United would have had little or no chance of matching last year’s finishing position of sixth this time around. Get well soon, big fella.

Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur)

A target of Arsenal and Manchester United during his days as a 21-year-old at Celtic, both clubs must rue letting Southampton get the jump on them to sign him for a bargain £12.5m before moving him on to Spurs for even less. Reunited with his former manager Mauricio Pochettino, the Kenyan has been consistently outstanding in Tottenham’s midfield, embracing all aspects of the grunt work that prompted his manager to label him “the perfect player”. Energetic? Tick. Aggressive? Tick. A voracious devourer of loose balls with an impressive passing range? Tickety-tick tick tick. Still only 25, Wanyama has scope for further improvement and appears a more than willing learner. He has curbed the “enthusiasm” that earned him three red cards last season, replacing them with goals instead. Ably assisted by marauding full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli may provide the stardust in Tottenham’s midfield, but the creative freedom with which Wanyama and Mousa Dembélé provide all four has been instrumental in making Pochettino’s side the most exciting in the Premier League.

Sadio Mané (Liverpool)

With his searing pace over short distances, close control and ability to stretch opposing defences, Sadio Mané has proved an inspired signing for Liverpool since his arrival from Southampton for £34m. Far from taking time to settle into his new surroundings, it was his mesmerising intervention that ensured his side took all three points in an opening weekend white-knuckle ride against Arsenal and he has chipped in with 12 Premier League goals since, despite missing sizeable chunks of the season through Africa Cup of Nations duty with Senegal and, more recently, injury. Indeed, with his ability to wreak havoc between the defensive lines of rival teams, it could be argued that Liverpool are a little over-reliant on their Senegalese speed-merchant. While he was away in Gabon in January, Liverpool took only one league point from nine available and got knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolves, suggesting the value of his contribution is never more apparent than when he isn’t around to make it.

N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea)

The usual stuff, except more of it and this time he’s got the PFA Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Player of the Year gongs to show for it.