2019-20

PLM, runner-up

Pierre Lees-Melou, 26, has finished second in the voting for the 2019-20 Crédit Agricole PCA Aiglon of the Season award.

He could easily have won the top award. The voting was so tight in the end that Pierre Lees-Melou had to settle for second, with 33% of the suffrage. It is a fantastic way to pay tribute to a wonderful season from the tireless midfielder.

Patrick Vieira likes to say that you can count on him. He proved it this season, week in, week out on the pitch. Like always, since joining Le Gym in the summer of 2017, PLM ‘rolled up his sleeves’ and battled for the team, always giving his maximum for the cause. His work rate and vision help him play a crucial ball-winning role in the centre of the park. He always gives his teammates an option and his above-average technique make him an essential cog in Le Gym’s possession-based game.

This term, ‘Pierrot, the Worker’ also showed up his finishing ability. With six goals and six assists, he was the third-best assists provider in L1 in 2019-20 as he racked up the best statistics of his career (5 goals and 7 assists in 47 appearances in 2017-18), despite the curtailed championship.

One of his goals this season was certainly a little more important than the others: the scored away to Reims, where he headed home Hicham Boudaoui’s cross to earn the Aiglons a share of the spoils (1-1). It was a result that saw Nice finish above Reims on head to head results at season’s end.