Two very different seasons for Newcastle United, one similar problem — but for completely contrasting reasons.Following Newcastle’s historic 2024-25 campaign, when Eddie Howe led the club to their first domestic trophy in 70 years and back into the Champions League for the second time in three years, it was extremely difficult to identify the player of the season. Rather than merely affording The Athletic’s ‘much-coveted’ accolade to one individual outright, George Caulkin and I debated the merits of five worthy contenders, before selecting Dan Burn and Sandro Tonali, respectively.Fast-forward 12 months, and we face the diametric problem. Across 2025-26, there are few outstanding contenders — a reflection upon, at least as far as the Premier League is concerned, a Newcastle campaign riddled with inconsistency and underperformance (for the most part).The two most worthy candidates are Lewis Hall, who excelled for much of the season at left-back, and Bruno Guimaraes, the inspirational captain. Primarily due to how diminished Newcastle appeared whenever the talismanic Guimaraes was absent, especially in a creative sense, the 28-year-old gets The Athletic’s vote.Those who do not watch every one of Newcastle’s matches may cry, “What about Anthony Gordon and his 17 goals?”If this were awarded purely based on Champions League performances, then his impressive 10-goal haul from nine European starts would guarantee the 25-year-old the prize. But Gordon scored just three goals from open play across 24 league starts, while nine of his entire tally came from the spot. While he very impressively dispatched all of his spot-kicks, the winger’s lack of match-defining moments across the top-flight campaign have contributed to the general lack of disappointment among the fanbase that Gordon is on the cusp of a move to Barcelona.Gordon finished the season as Newcastle’s top scorer (Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)Harvey Barnes’ 16 non-penalty goals across all competitions, seven in the Premier League and six in the Champions League, plus six assists, must also be acknowledged. Yet the 28-year-old only started half of Newcastle’s top-flight matches, and he continued his frustrating trend of often proving more impactful when coming off the bench.Malick Thiaw, meanwhile, has started 51 out of Newcastle’s last 53 games in all competitions, including a run of 38 successive matches from his full debut on September 21 until February 21, before sitting out the Champions League second-leg tie against Qarabag due to suspension. Only once, for the home defeat against Sunderland in March, did Howe choose to leave the 24-year-old left out of the XI. The German was undoubtedly Newcastle’s signing of the season because, alongside his sheer durability, he was solid, a couple of notable horror displays aside.Had Lewis Miley’s season not been punctuated by multiple injuries, the 20-year-old may also have been in contention. His impressive spells at right-back showed a fresh versatility to a natural midfielder who should be a mainstay next season, as long as he recovers quickly from his unfortunate leg fracture.