Carlos Vela, Javier Hernandez and Jesus "Tecatito" Corona have been left out of Mexico's 29-player preliminary Gold Cup squad.

LAFC forward Vela's omission was due to the player preferring to be with his club and family, said Mexico coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino, and comes after the 30-year-old has recorded 12 goals and six assists in 12 MLS games in 2019.

"I spoke with Carlos Vela over the phone last week and he assured me that at this time his club and his family are his priority, that's why he stepped aside," said Martino in the news conference in Mexico City.

West Ham United striker Hernandez asked permission to be absent due to birth of his first child, which is scheduled to take place during the tournament, and was expected, while Porto midfield Hector Herrera asked not to be called in after a long season and pending club move, reported to be to Atletico Madrid.

Porto winger Corona missed out after a back-and-forth in March about his fitness for friendlies against Chile and Paraguay. Martino was livid that Corona hadn't turned up to his first camp as El Tri coach and was open in expressing that.

Martino said that he hadn't spoken to Corona since then and that after weighing up his options decided against calling in the player, who has been in good form with Porto.

Former Barcelona coach Martino said in his time managing the Argentina and Paraguay national squads he hadn't experienced a similar situation of a number of players asking not to be called up.

"I don't think it is common. It's not something I've seen before," said Martino. "A call-up to the national team is a prize for footballers and when they don't see it as that, it's logical for them not to be here."

There was some positive news with PSV Eindhoven's Hirving Lozano on the list, although there is still some doubt whether he'll recover from the knee injury picked up on April 25.

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Real Betis youngster Diego Lainez and Leon striker Juan Jose Macias are both in Mexico's Under-20s squad for the World Cup and weren't taken into consideration.

There were call-ups for youngsters Carlos Rodriguez (Monterrey), Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul) Jorge Sanchez (Club America), Raul Gudino (Chivas), Ivan Rodriguez (Leon) and Edson Alvarez (Club America).

The squad will be cut to 23 players in the first week of June ahead of the Gold Cup, which Mexico kicks off on June 15 against Martinique, followed by matches against Canada (June 19) and Cuba (June 23).

Mexico warms up for the Gold Cup with games against Venezuela (June 5) and Ecuador (June 9).

The 29-player squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (Standard Liege), Jonathan Orozco (Santos Laguna), Raul Gudino (Chivas), Hugo Gonzalez (Necaxa)

Defenders: Hector Moreno (Real Sociedad), Diego Reyes (Leganes), Nestor Araujo (Celta de Vigo), Jorge Sanchez (America), Jesus Gallardo (Monterrey), Miguel Layun (Monterrey), Cesar Montes (Monterrey), Carlos Salcedo (Tigres), Luis Rodriguez (Tigres), Fernando Navarro (Leon)

Midfielders: Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Jonathan dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Erick Gutierrez (PSV Eindhoven), Carlos Rodriguez (Monterrey), Luis Montes (Leon), Edson Alvarez (America), Ivan Rodriguez (Leon), Orbelin Pineda (Cruz Azul)

Forwards: Hirving Lozano (PSV Eindhoven), Raul Jimenez (Wolves), Alexis Vega (Chivas), Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul), Rodolfo Pizarro (Monterrey), Uriel Antuna (LA Galaxy), Marco Fabian (Philadelphia Union)

Jurgen Klopp says he will fill the three-week gap before the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur by putting his Liverpool players through a two-week "preseason."

The two Premier League clubs played their final domestic games of the season on Sunday and are in the unusual position of having a lengthy wait for the June 1 clash in Madrid.

Klopp has given his team a few days off to recover from a gruelling Premier League campaign in which they pushed Manchester City to the final day in the title race, eventually losing out by one point.

They will reconvene next week to prepare for the showpiece meeting at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

"We have to do a couple of things in preparation for the Champions League, media stuff," Klopp told the club's website.

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"We have to do that, then the boys will have a couple of days off and then we have two proper weeks as a preseason for the Champions League final.

"We will do that, we will play that, [hopefully] win it, come home and then the people get what they deserve."

Liverpool, who defeated Barcelona to reach their second consecutive Champions League final, are bidding for their sixth European Cup, which would be their first piece of silverware under Klopp.

Tottenham, who produced a superb comeback to beat Ajax Amsterdam in the semifinal and reach their first Champions League final, will hope to use the gap to their advantage with top striker Harry Kane recovering from an ankle injury.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino, also seeking his first silverware after five years at Tottenham, said at the weekend: "We have our idea, we have our plan ... We need to be natural. It is not a pre-season, but it is not going to be a holiday. The most important thing is that we apply common sense, we have the plan and we are going to deliver the plan so the players arrive in the best condition to win the final."

Antoine Griezmann has informed Atletico Madrid that he will leave this summer, with sources confirming to ESPN FC that Barcelona are hopeful of signing him less than one year after he turned them down.

Atletico released a short statement Tuesday revealing that Griezmann had communicated his decision to leave the club after five seasons. They followed that up by posting a video of the French forward on social media explaining his decision to supporters.

"After speaking with [coach Diego Simeone], [CEO Miguel] Angel Gil Marin and with people in the club's hierarchy, I wanted to speak with you, the fans," Griezmann said. "You have always shown me a lot of love and I wanted to be the first to tell you that I've taken the decision to leave to see other things and take on other challenges.

"It's been a difficult route to take, but it's what I feel I need. Thanks for everything during five fantastic years here, where I was able to win my first big trophies. There have been some incredible moments that I will always remember. You, the supporters, will always be in my heart."

ESPN FC first reported in March that Griezmann, 28, wanted to leave Atletico at the end of the season. He had been offered to a number of Europe's biggest clubs, including Barca, although the Catalans weren't initially interested in reopening talks to sign him after he turned them down after last summer's events.

The 2018 World Cup winner with France has played his entire professional career in Spain, having arrived to Atletico from Real Sociedad in 2014. Another club with interest in Griezmann is Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Barca thought they had a deal in place to sign Griezmann before the World Cup and were caught off guard when, days before the tournament began in Russia, he released a documentary called "The Decision," which ended with him committing his future to Atletico. He later signed a new deal at the Wanda Metropolitano.

However, Griezmann has had a change of heart since then and Barca, after much debate among the board, have also changed their minds since the possibility of signing him re-aired in March.

Griezmann scored a team-leading 133 goals in 256 games across all competitions in five seasons for the club. His 126 La Liga goal involvements (goals and assists) in that span are fourth in La Liga behind Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Griezmann won three titles in his five seasons with Atleti: the 2017-18 Europa League, 2018 UEFA Super Cup and 2014 Spanish Super Cup. He also missed a penalty in the 2016 UEFA Champions League final penalty-shootout loss to Real Madrid.

President Josep Maria Bartomeu told ESPN FC last month that there were no bad feelings with Griezmann over the documentary, which he labeled "water under the bridge." Barca have since made Griezmann, along with Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt, one of their main targets for the summer.

The humiliating Champions League loss to Liverpool last week further enhanced the club's opinion that they need to add fresh blood to an aging squad.

Griezmann, meanwhile, has seen Atletico stagnate. They are on course to finish second in La Liga but came up short in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. His closest ally in the squad, Diego Godin, also announced last week that he would leave when his contract expires in the summer. Griezmann cried at Godin's goodbye news conference.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Atletico were not informed by Griezmann where he will move, but he did tell them he will deposit his release clause with the league at the start of July. His current clause is €200 million, but it will drop to €120 million on July 1.

Barca could try to negotiate a deal with Atletico, but sources close to the club have said the Spanish champions remain reluctant to open talks before July when Griezmann's clause dips, due to the fact the Rojiblanco reported them to FIFA for making an illegal approach to Griezmann at the end of 2017.

In a bid to change the organization's future, the New England Revolution have looked to MLS' past. Bruce Arena is back, taking on the dual roles of sporting director and manager with the Revs.

It's a move that makes sense on multiple levels. On the NFL side, Kraft Sports Group has given New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick the kind of freedom to run the organization as he sees fit, resulting in six Super Bowl titles in 18 years. Arena is used to operating in a similar fashion, making the relationship, at least outwardly, look like a good match.

The entire Revolution organization on the technical side needs a reboot as well, particularly in terms of allocating more resources. This goes beyond simply shelling out money for another designated player, like the Revs attempted to do with Paul-Jose M'Poku to the tune of a reported $14 million total before the deal fell through. With the advent of targeted allocation money (TAM), there needs to be an increased commitment to scouting to fill out the remainder of the roster. While the hiring of Remi Roy as director of scouting back in 2018 and the subsequent addition of Sergio Neveleff as an international scout were positive steps, more needs to be done to catch up to the rest of the league.

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New England's penchant for grinding players down over contracts has long put it near the bottom of players' preferred destinations. While the league's player-acquisition mechanisms do plenty to stifle choice, there are enough holes that when the opportunity to leave presented itself, lots of players voted with their feet, from Jeff Larentowicz and Michael Parkhurst in the 2000s to Lee Nguyen and Jermaine Jones in the 2010s. Looked at another way, the Revs haven't signed a single player using the league's free-agent mechanism since its inception in 2015. (Jalil Anibaba was signed via a different mechanism, as his seven service years at the time of his signing meant he wasn't technically a free agent.)

Given Arena's track record in MLS, most recently with the LA Galaxy, he has the know-how in terms of what needs to be done to address these issues. Given free rein in L.A., it didn't take Arena long to turn things around, with the Galaxy finishing atop the Western Conference in his first full season in charge. The Galaxy went on to claim three MLS Cup titles in the next four seasons.

In this time, Arena showed an ability to bend the leagues roster rules to his advantage. Given the current state of the Revs' roster, that will no doubt come in handy.

As for Arena, the decision to join the Revs was easy. The most recent image of him on the sideline is the horrific night in Couva, Trinidad, when the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. This is a way to at least write a different final chapter to his coaching career. Arena is also a soccer junkie, and he has been keen to get back in the game ever since, with sources confirming that Arena sought positions both with the Galaxy and the Columbus Crew before landing with New England. He'll also have the same kind of power and control of the technical side that he had with the Galaxy.

There are no guarantees that this move will be a simple tap-in in terms of success, however. There is the sense that Arena wouldn't have taken the job without assurances from Kraft Sports Group that he will be provided with the requisite resources. Such are the sentiments when the ink on the contract isn't quite dry. The coming months will reveal the extent to which the organization's commitment proves sufficient.

Arena's history is by no means blemish-free, either. The World Cup qualifying failure leaves the kind of stain that can't be washed away, and there's more. His 15-month stint with the New York Red Bulls was middling at best. While the Red Bulls made the playoffs both years, they were bounced in the first round both times. They were also never more than a mid-table side, finishing sixth out of 14 teams in his one full season in charge. This was a team that also had two DPs in Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Angel, giving it an advantage over most MLS sides at the time. His final two seasons with the Galaxy witnessed a bit of a drop-off as well in terms of the team's performance.

MLS has also continued to evolve over the past 2½ years. The acquisition and spending of TAM has become more important as more money has been pumped into the system.

Then there is the criticism that Arena has been left behind tactically. Without question, he made his share of mistakes during his most recent stint with the U.S., most notably his insistence on playing with a single holding midfielder in the game against Trinidad & Tobago. The level of coaching in MLS also has more of an international flavor now and become more sophisticated.

But over the course of his career, Arena has proved himself adaptable in terms of dealing with the league's arcane roster rules. That shouldn't be an issue. The tactical element will be one to watch, although Arena's team-building, both in terms of personnel and the interpersonal relationships, on the field can do plenty to mitigate that.

The reality is that the Revs were in danger of being lapped by the rest of the league. Arena has the skill set to revive the franchise, but that will only happen if the rest of the organization buys into his vision.

It was arguably the best Premier League season in history. The battle between Liverpool and Manchester City came down to the final Sunday of the campaign and required City to win their final 14 games of the season to hold on to their one-point lead and retain their crown. Liverpool finished second with the third-highest point total in Premier League history, while City held on for dear life and survived with one of the most impressive stretch runs you'll ever see.

Jurgen Klopp & Co. won't be too heartbroken if they win the Champions League on June 1, of course, but let's cheer them and the rest of the league by handing out arbitrary awards. Back in December, I went around the Premier League and gave out superlatives for everything from best substitute to most tired managerial storyline.

Let's go back to the well and hand out awards for the full season. I've narrowed down the categories a bit, but with a full season of data to work with, I've expanded the results from three selections to five. Where applicable, I've used advanced metrics and expected goals (xG) data prepared by ESPN Stats & Information. Transfer values are the prices listed at Transfermarkt.

Jump to: Best signing | Worst signing | Goal of the season | Save of the season | Young newcomer of the season | Team of the season | Player of the season

Best signing of the season

Let's start by running through the top signings of the past season, covering both the summer 2018 and winter 2019 transfer windows. These are weighted for positional scarcity -- basically, finding a striker for £10 million is more valuable than paying the same price for a wing back -- and cost. The players who belong on this list are the ones who have had their transfer value rise the most over the past 12 months, factors that contribute to keeping stars such as Felipe Anderson and Richarlison, as well as valuable veterans like Lukasz Fabianski, off this list.

5. David Brooks, Sheffield United to Bournemouth, £10.2m

It's rare for a player to move from a lower league to the Premier League after one season of senior football. It's even more unusual to make a big move after just nine starts at the Championship level, as Brooks did last summer. This was a hugely risky investment for manager Eddie Howe, but it paid off. Brooks was a creative force for the Cherries, producing seven goals and five assists in 2,276 minutes. The 21-year-old also barely seemed to tire as the season went along, which was promising given his slight frame and lack of experience. Bournemouth recognized Brooks' impact by signing him to a new contract in March.

4. James Maddison, Norwich City to Leicester, £22.5m

Leicester managed to overcome losing Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City by signing an even more creative player to replace the Algerian star. Maddison isn't the same sort of player, of course, but the Coventry City product created a league-high 100 chances for his teammates this season. Jamie Vardy finished fourth in the Premier League in xG during the second half of the season and Maddison -- who racked up 4.6 xG and 4.2 xA over that timeframe -- was the biggest reason. Given the inflated price of English talent on the market, Maddison could very well fetch twice this price if Leicester decided to sell him this offseason. He's more likely to be the focal point of the post-Mahrez side for years to come.

3. Lucas Torreira, Sampdoria to Arsenal, £27m

Torreira's numbers don't necessarily stand out in a similar way to Brooks' or Maddison's, but given how long Arsenal had been crying out for a defensive midfielder with some meaningful bite, it's no surprise Torreira has become hugely popular with Arsenal fans. Tackle numbers for teams with as much possession as Arsenal can be skewed, but Torreira ranks in the top 20 in ball recoveries and opponent-adjusted tackles among regular starters. He's also a more thoughtful player in possession than most players of his ilk. Torreira's numbers declined over the course of the season, which is why he fell from the top spot at midseason to third, but he's a building block for Arsenal.

2. Ricardo Pereira, Porto to Leicester City, £19.8m

The other key signing from Leicester's offseason, Pereira recently took home Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season honors at the club awards for an outstanding debut campaign in England. Employed as both a traditional right-back and occasionally a right-winger under Claude Puel, Pereira chipped in with six assists while also contributing 117 tackles, the latter of which was second in the league among full-backs. Among Pereira's two goals, of course, was a wonder strike against Manchester City on Boxing Day. Pereira's not Mahrez, but he was an enormous upgrade on Danny Simpson at right-back and one of the best full-backs in the division.

1. Fabian Schar, Deportivo to Newcastle, £3.6m

When you rarely get to spend money, you need to make your few deals count. Rafa Benitez pulled that off yet again at Newcastle this offseason. Although Miguel Almiron was arguably the signing of the winter window before going down with a hamstring injury, I consider Schar the signing of the summer given the absurdly low price. Newcastle benefited when a relegation clause in the Swiss defender's deal knocked down Schar's value, but every other club could have made this move, too.

All that Newcastle have come away with is one of the most impactful defenders of the Premier League season. Schar has been the difference-maker for the Magpies this season. With him in the lineup, Newcastle has gone 12-7-5, averaging 1.71 points per match and allowing one goal per contest. Without Schar? Newcastle would be relegation bait at 0-10-4, good for an average of 0.3 points per match, while allowing 1.71 goals per contest.

Is it too simplistic to credit all of that difference to Schar? Probably. It also seems clear that he deserves a huge amount of credit for helping to turn Newcastle's defense around, as the 27-year-old ranks among the league leaders at his position in both interceptions and progressive runs per 90 minutes. Schar also scored four goals, including a world-class strike against Burnley that narrowly missed out on a place in my Goal of the Season superlatives.

Worst signing of the season

Likewise, it's time to judge the most disappointing transfers of the past season, too. I'll throw in age as a factor here: Although players like Yerry Mina and Caglar Söyüncü commanded significant fees and didn't make an impact in their first seasons in England, they're still young enough to turn good on their clubs' investment. In an era where players on the wrong side of 30 rarely command significant fees, guys in their late 20s need to make an immediate impact to justify large expenditures given the relative lack of resale value from their deals.

5. Matej Vydra, Derby to Burnley, £11m

Manager Sean Dyche has a habit of building his attacks around successful goal scorers at the Championship level, having signed Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Andre Gray from the second tier in years past. No surprise, then, when Dyche swooped for the 27-year-old Vydra this summer after the Czech international failed to agree personal terms with Leeds.

But Vydra has been a nonfactor. After scoring in September, he failed to hit the back of the net. He started in a 4-2 loss to West Ham on Nov. 13 and played just 68 minutes over the ensuing seven months, most of which came after Burnley's status in the top flight was confirmed in late April. Burnley will stick around in the Premier League for another season but Vydra might not be along for the ride.

4. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, AZ to Brighton, £17.1m

Brighton narrowly held on to their own Premier League status and scoring was their biggest problem. Chris Hughton's club scored a mere 35 goals this season, the fewest among the 17 Premier League survivors this season. Just 16 of those goals came from open play, which ranked 19th among the 20 Premier League clubs, ahead of only Huddersfield Town. After 35-year-old Glenn Murray, the club's second-leading scorer was center-back Shane Duffy with five goals.

Brighton had to be hoping for more from Jahanbakhsh, who was a nonfactor during his first season in English football. That's almost literally true: in 1,022 minutes, the Iranian winger failed to record a goal or an assist for Brighton. It's obviously a disappointing return given that the 25-year-old led the Eredivisie with 21 goals in his final season at AZ. Jahanbakhsh did miss two months with a hamstring injury and then went to the Asian Cup upon returning, but at best he has been a peripheral figure even when available. Brighton will expect more from their record purchase next season.

3. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Marseille to Fulham, £22.4m

Picking the worst transfer from the bunch is difficult given that Jean-Michael Seri contributed all of one goal and three assists in more than 2,000 minutes after signing from Nice, while Alfie Mawson was wildly ineffective at center-back before undergoing knee surgery. Most observers would still give the nod to Anguissa, who'd really shined for only one season at Marseille before moving to London. Signed to play as the defensive midfielder with Seri presumably in an attacking role, it quickly became clear that the two were a subpar fit. Anguissa labored through a disastrous fall and then missed significant time with an ankle injury. While he has improved some upon his return and has been a steady presence in the lineup under Scott Parker, Anguissa simply hasn't delivered on the promise he showed in France.

2. Ben Gibson, Middlesbrough to Burnley, £15m

It's difficult to make less of an impact than Gibson has this season. Once called up to the English senior team, he was expected to figure into the starting XI for Burnley this season after a £15 million offseason transfer. Instead, Gibson entered the season with a hernia and ended up playing once, a 63-minute spell on Boxing Day in a 5-1 loss to Everton. The nicest thing you can say is that Gibson at least scored the consolation goal before he was yanked off and sent to the bench for the remainder of the campaign.

1. Fred, Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester United, £53.1m

Could it be anyone but Fred? You might argue that the Brazilian has been unfairly scapegoated as the symbol of the bloat that's enveloped Manchester United in the post-Ferguson era, with the club spending over the odds to sign players their managers subsequently don't want to pick. Fred wasn't favored by Jose Mourinho, and while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave everyone at the club a fresh start, Fred also wasn't a significant part of the United winning streak in the league.

The 26-year-old played just 162 Premier League minutes during the 12-game stretch to start Solskjaer's run, when United took 32 of 36 possible points. While Fred also started in the miraculous comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, he gave away a penalty in the streak-ending loss to Arsenal and was overrun in the 3-0 loss to Barcelona. Fred came in for criticism from Roy Keane for his effort during United's loss in the Manchester derby. It's unclear whether he'll be part of Manchester United's next rebuild.

Goal of the season

A great goal is a great goal, but context helps here: an incredible strike that swung two points and helped decide the title race (hint, hint) means slightly more than the fourth goal against Huddersfield. Yes, that Vincent Kompany strike against Leicester is on the list, but did the City stalwart's effort make it to No. 1?

5. Son Heung-Min, Tottenham vs. Chelsea, Nov. 24

It's hard to believe that Son was once viewed as a disappointment after struggling to make an impact in his first English campaign. It's difficult to imagine Spurs without the effervescent Korean star at this point, given that the 26-year-old serves as both a valuable winger when Harry Kane is in the lineup and the focal point of the attack when he's not. Son's most notable contribution this season was when he scored three goals over two legs to help knock out Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinals, but Spurs fans won't soon forget Son clowning Jorginho and David Luiz en route to scoring Tottenham's third against Chelsea.

4. Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool vs. Chelsea, Sept. 29

Although Sturridge has been goalless and anonymous since the beginning of October, he helped cover for Mo Salah's slow start to the season by scoring four times across August and September. In addition to a goal against PSG in the Champions League, Sturridge helped earn a crucial point for Liverpool by curling in a brilliant late equalizer against Chelsea.

3. Eden Hazard, Chelsea vs. West Ham, April 9

There are plenty of brilliant footballers in the Premier League, but I'd dare say nobody else could have scored this goal. Hazard manages to create a dangerous opportunity in the blink of an eye and dribbles through the roadblock West Ham has set at the edge of the box, then perfectly places his finish in the corner. Hazard would score a second later in the match but has failed to score since; it would be fitting if this moment of magic was his last goal in a Chelsea kit.

2. Vincent Kompany, Manchester City vs. Leicester, May 6

The goal that saved the title. We'll never know whether City would have managed to find an equalizer over the final 20 minutes if their longtime defender hadn't fired them into the lead, but this would be a suitable goal for deciding any championship race. Kompany's impact on title races in years past has been more subtle, but again, this would be a suitably significant moment to end Kompany's Premier League career if the Belgian does leave City. One of the final signings of the Thaksin Shinawatra era before City came under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi royal family in 2008, Kompany has been a massive force in the center of City's defense, and injury would be the only argument keeping him away from lists of the best defenders in Premier League history.

1. Andros Townsend, Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City, Dec. 22

It didn't end up deciding the title race after all, but even given the importance of Kompany's goal, I still think the sheer brilliance of Townsend's volley into the corner is enough to top this list. Remember how Paul George said that Damian Lillard's game-winning 3-pointer to seal the Blazers' series win over the Thunder was a "bad shot"? This was a bad shot. You shouldn't try this. It had a better chance of going 20 rows into the stands than it did of hitting the back of the net. Townsend did it anyway, and it produced the best goal he'll ever score.

Save of the season

With this superlative, we're looking for saves where a keeper had to react at the last moment, deal with a deflection or use every inch of his frame to stop a sure goal. Point-blank saves where a keeper doesn't know much about what's happening before the ball finds him are obviously valuable, but style counts here.

5. David de Gea, Manchester United vs. Tottenham, Jan. 13

I almost have to put a De Gea save from this match in the rankings, given that it was probably the single best individual performance from a goalkeeper all season. The longtime United star had a brutal end to the campaign, but United needed each of his 11 saves to secure a 1-0 win at Wembley against Spurs. You can pick your favorite, but I prefer his kick save to deny Harry Kane. (Another kick save that narrowly missed this list was Angus Gunn saving a would-be own goal against Arsenal.)

4. Hugo Lloris, Tottenham vs. West Ham, Oct. 20

Speaking of Spurs and uneven seasons ... Lloris went through his own struggles on and off the pitch this season, but his best performance came against the Hammers in October. Among Lloris' saves in a man of the match performance was this fingertip stop to deny Marko Arnautovic.

3. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Chelsea vs. Fulham, March 3

A lot of keepers in the Premier League had some pretty difficult moments this season, huh? The most memorable moment of Kepa's debut season in England came when he refused to be substituted during the League Cup final, which led to the £72m keeper being fined a week's wages. Seven days after the tempest, Kepa returned and delivered a fine performance against Fulham. Aleksandr Mitrovic has an unreal ability to get power on his shots without needing space or time, but Kepa was up to the task against this volley.

2. Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham vs. Manchester United, Sept. 29

Once known for his gaffes at Arsenal, Fabianski might have been the steadiest keeper in the Premier League all season. This was my midseason pick for save of the half-season and honestly, it still might deserve to be No. 1. It's a more difficult version of the Lloris save that finished fourth, as the Polish international is forced to react at the last moment, using incredible wrist strength to keep out a Marouane Fellaini header.

1. Jordan Pickford, Everton vs. Huddersfield, Jan. 29

Pickford failed to live up to lofty expectations after impressing during England's run to the semifinals of the World Cup over the summer, but there's no denying this is a great save. It usually didn't take much to keep Huddersfield out of opposing nets this season, but this free Elias Kachunga header was ticketed for the bottom corner, only for Pickford to sprint from one side of his goal to the other to tip the shot away. It ended up saving two points for the Toffees in a 1-0 victory.

Young newcomer of the season

I'm adding this award as a replacement for young player of the year honors, which went to Raheem Sterling. Honestly, Sterling deserves all the hardware we can give him, but it seems silly to give an award to Sterling for young player after he's already been established as a Premier League star for years. Sterling is only 24, but that's not even really a young player anymore. The average outfield player in the Premier League this year on a minute-adjusted basis was 26.8 years old, so let's shift the criteria for a different sort of award.

To be eligible for the young newcomer award, our candidates have to be 23 or younger at the end of the 2018-19 season. Players who had more than 1,000 minutes of Premier League experience under their belt before the season began are also ineligible, which notably removes Declan Rice from the equation.

5. Diogo Jota, forward, Wolverhampton Wanderers

Part of the Portuguese revolution propelling Wolves into the top 10 this season, Jota was initially signed on loan from Atletico Madrid during Wolves' successful promotion campaign last year before making a £12.6m permanent switch this offseason. The Porto product scored 17 goals and chipped in five assists in 3,632 minutes at the Championship level last season and he's nearly kept that scoring rate up at a higher level, with nine goals and five assists in 2,368 Premier League minutes this season. Three of those goals came in a Midlands battle against Leicester, one of just three hat tricks all season from a player who doesn't represent one of the top six.

4. Lucas Torreira, midfielder, Arsenal

I mentioned Torreira's exploits earlier in talking about him as a great transfer; the Uruguayan doesn't turn 24 until next February, so he should be part of the squad Unai Emery will try to build in North London for years to come.

3. James Maddison, midfielder, Leicester City

Likewise, Maddison is both a great transfer and a very promising Premier League debutant. It's been a remarkable rise for a player who first began to make his name as a teenager in League One before going on loan to Aberdeen. Two years ago, Maddison had barely made any appearances in the Championship. Now he's on the fringes of the English national team.

2. Ruben Neves, midfielder, Wolverhampton Wanderers

It's another Portuguese player at Wolves! Like Jota, Neves was along for the ride as Wolves won the Championship last season. He was arguably the best player in the second tier a season ago, which might not seem like a surprise given Neves' £16 million transfer fee, but perhaps should be given that the fellow Porto product was only 20 years old for most of the campaign.

Neves wasn't quite as dominant in the top tier, finishing the season with four goals and three assists, but there are few players who do as many things as well as Neves does. The 22-year-old finished eighth in the league with 73 interceptions, but he simultaneously has free kicks like this stunner against Arsenal in his locker. It's no wonder the Gunners are rumored to be interested in signing Neves as a replacement for Aaron Ramsey.

1. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, right back, Crystal Palace

The most stunning breakout of the season belongs to the most successful graduate of Crystal Palace's academy since Wilfried Zaha. The 21-year-old Wan-Bissaka only peeked into the first team last February, and while he played well enough to justify a spot in Crystal Palace's senior team this season, nobody could have seen this coming.

AWB had 91 successful tackles this season, second-best in the Premier League behind Wilfried Ndidi and 25 more than any other right-back in the league. The only defender in the league with more than 2,000 minutes played who has topped Wan-Bissaka's 65.5 percent success rate on tackle attempts is Virgil Van Dijk. The Palace star also finished second in the Prem with 84 interceptions. Wan-Bissaka's revelation of a campaign is enough to justify pitting him against Trent Alexander-Arnold as England's right-back of the future. A national team call-up is surely on the way; a move to one of the top six might follow.

Team of the season

I'll pick a starting 11 out of a 4-2-3-1 formation and seven substitutes to follow. Before I get started, though, I should warn Spurs fans that there aren't any Tottenham players in the first team. Based on Premier League form alone, there wasn't a logical spot for one. Kane made my midseason XI and would have likely been this team's striker before his ankle injury. Players like Christian Eriksen, Moussa Sissoko and Toby Alderweireld all had excellent seasons, but there were clearly more productive players at their respective positions. Son Heung-Min is brilliant, but he narrowly topped 2,000 minutes in the league and has to compete with a handful of world-class wingers.

The only thing that might cheer Spurs fans up -- outside of the upcoming match in Madrid -- is that Arsenal don't have a player in the team, either.

GK: Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham
Fabianski over Alisson or Ederson? The 34-year-old certainly didn't cost as much as the two Brazilians and allowed more goals this season, but Fabianski had far more work to do and played a huge role in West Ham's rise up the table after a slow start. Fabianski led the league in a variety of categories: overall saves (148), collected saves (58), saves on shots in the box (104) and even fingertip saves (five).

At 73.2 percent, Fabianski had a higher save percentage than Ederson (72.3 percent), who faced less than half of the shots Fabianski had to deal with all season. Alisson was ahead of Fabianski at 78.2 percent, which led the league, but again, the former Roma star had to deal with only about half of the shot volume Fabianski dealt with over the course of the season. Alisson also got to play behind an acclaimed defense on a team that had the second-highest possession percentage in the league, whereas Fabianski's side took a league-high five red cards, was middle of the pack in possession and didn't exactly have Van Dijk at center-back.

RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Crystal Palace
Alexander-Arnold could figure here -- we're living in a truly gilded age for hyphenated English right-backs -- but I'll lean toward the defensive strength of Wan-Bissaka over the attacking edge Alexander-Arnold offers as a crosser. Again, Wan-Bissaka finished the season second in both successful tackles, interceptions and crosses blocked. Alexander-Arnold's clearly a more complete player, but it's incredible for a right-back to be as productive defensively as AWB has been for Palace this season.

CB: Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool
Duh. More on him in a minute.

CB: Aymeric Laporte, Manchester City
An unmarked Laporte scored what will go down as the title-clinching goal for City during Sunday's 4-1 win at Brighton, and while it will unquestionably be lost to history in comparison to Kompany's goal against Leicester, Laporte has been an absolute rock for a defense that finished only one goal behind Van Dijk's Liverpool side. There's a gap between Van Dijk and the other center-back candidates around the league, but Laporte scored three times and was the ever-present center-back on a team that allowed only 23 goals all season, one off Liverpool's pace.

LB: Andrew Robertson, Liverpool
There were five players in this team who were easy selections, and while Lucas Digne impressed in his debut season one mile north for Everton, Robertson was one of those five. The Scot, who started his professional career just seven years ago in the lofty heights of the Scottish third division with Queen's Park, has stunningly matured into one of the best left-backs on the planet since moving to Liverpool. No left-back in the league recovered the ball or successfully completed tackles more frequently than the 25-year-old, and the only defender to rack up more assists than Robertson's 11 was his teammate, Alexander-Arnold.

CM: Fernandinho, Manchester City
Fernandinho is not City's best player, but is there anybody Pep Guardiola would miss more if he weren't available? The Brazilian played 29 matches this season and in those contests City went 25-2-2 while allowing just 15 goals. City lost twice during Fernandinho's nine absences and allowed eight goals across those nine contests. The 34-year-old ranked 13th in the league in adjusted tackle rate and 19th in adjusted interception rate among players with 2,000 minutes or more and chipped in with six through balls. He even added a beautifully targeted goal on a 0.05 xG attempt against Burnley. He remains essential to City, even at an age when other stars at his position would typically be moving into part-time roles.

CM: Paul Pogba, Manchester United
Picking someone like Fabianski might be controversial in one way; adding Pogba is controversial in another. Pogba's a perennial flashpoint and seemingly the cause of some portion of United's problems at all times. The World Cup winner spent the first half of the season seemingly sulking under the fading regime of Mourinho, and while he seemed to shine once Solskjaer took over, Pogba's displays toward the end of the season -- most notably against Everton -- attracted criticism from Roy Keane.

If Keane wants to parse Pogba's body language and hold him up to his own lofty standards, that's fine. Here's what we know about Pogba: He's critical to United's chances of winning. He scored 13 goals this season, and while seven of them were on penalties, Pogba also created 50 chances for his teammates, which was behind only Bernardo and David Silva among central midfielders. The Frenchman created nine assists on just 4.86 xA, which owes some to his impressive range as a passer. His 21 expected goals and assists were 10th-most in the Premier League and most for any central midfielder.

Has Pogba lived up to his £89m transfer fee? I'm not sure. Are there moments where he doesn't track back the way a former player would want? Probably. Would United be better off without the 26-year-old in their team? Absolutely not. He won United points on his own this season, with this interception and sublime pass to set up Marcus Rashford for the game's only goal against Leicester as an example.

Selling Pogba would be a step backward for United.

RW: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
Salah wasn't shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award after winning it last season, but that's a mistake and likely a product of an unrealistic baseline. It was always unlikely Salah was going to top 30 goals in consecutive seasons, given that his 32 goals came against a baseline of 25.3 expected goals last campaign. He scored "only" 22 goals this season, but by creating more scoring chances and staying healthy for a full 38-game campaign, Salah was still the most productive attacking player in the Premier League by a comfortable margin for the second consecutive campaign.

He finished the season by producing 31.7 combined expected goals and assists; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was second with 29.1 combined xG+xA, and then nobody else in the league topped Raheem Sterling's mark of 25.3. Salah wasn't as good as he was last season, but he was still arguably the best forward in the league.

AM: Raheem Sterling, Manchester City
After years of underperforming his xG marks and gaining an undeserved reputation as a poor finisher, Sterling finally managed to produce 17 goals against 14.8 expected goals this season. No attacker in the league who attempted 50 or more unblocked shots managed to put a higher percentage of those shots on target than Sterling. It wasn't all about finishing, either: Sterling created 64 chances from open play, the third most in the Premier League. The 24-year-old also deserves plaudits for his role in publicly combating racism, both inside stadiums and within the media. He's essential for club, country and the league itself.

LW: Eden Hazard, Chelsea
Moving back inside from the left to accommodate Sterling and Salah on the wings is Hazard, who might have been the only thing keeping Chelsea in the top six this season, let alone third. The Belgian star finished the season with 31 combined goals and assists, the most of any player in the Premier League. He created a league-high 75 chances from open play, nine more than any other player. In a "Sarriball" attack that seemed to devolve into self-parody during the winter, Hazard was Chelsea's "get out of jail free" card. This is a club that managed to get only 12 goals out of 2,777 minutes from the trio of Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud at striker throughout the season.

Sarri needed Hazard to carry this team, and he did enough to propel Chelsea into third place and a Champions League berth. That's significant guaranteed income for a club that is about to enter a two-window transfer ban and is essentially in a holding pattern until next summer. Hazard seems likely to follow Thibaut Courtois to Madrid, but he'll be leaving after his most productive -- and in its own way, most important -- season in a Chelsea kit.

ST: Sergio Aguero, Manchester City
As is the case with Salah, we might be setting our baseline expectations for the legendary Argentinian too high: 21 goals would be a record season for most Premier League strikers, but it's just another season for Kun, who finished his fifth consecutive 20-goal campaign with the equalizer in Sunday's title decider against Brighton. It wasn't quite as impressive of a strike rate as last season, when Aguero scored 21 goals in just 25 matches, but 21 goals in 33 appearances should be impressive by anyone's standards.

Aubameyang would also have a right to sneak in here given that he finished second in both goals and expected combined goals plus assists, but the Arsenal star scored 16 goals from open play to Aguero's 18, with the latter figure topped only by Sadio Mane. Aguero also added eight assists, topping both Auba (eight) and Mane (one).

Substitutes
GK Alisson, Liverpool; LB Lucas Digne, Everton; CB Shane Duffy, Brighton; CM Bernardo Silva, Manchester City; CM Christian Eriksen, Tottenham; FW Sadio Mane, Liverpool; ST Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal

Player of the season

Let's finish by picking the best player of the campaign. In my eyes, there are four viable candidates for the award, and if you ordered that top four in any way, I wouldn't fault you. (I understand you might not offer me the same courtesy.) As you might suspect given the final table, four of the five candidates come from the top two clubs.

5. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City

I would argue that Aguero narrowly misses out on that top foursome in part because he didn't play quite as much; he finished the season with 2,479 Premier League minutes under his belt whereas the four other players in this top five were on the pitch between 2,776 and 3,385 minutes each. City were understandably comfortable giving minutes to Gabriel Jesus at striker, but that costs Aguero in terms of a discussion about individual value.

4. Raheem Sterling, Manchester City

It does seem strange that the two City representatives in these rankings finish below the two Liverpool options, but I think the top-five format might undersell just how good City are as a team. If I were making this a top-15 list, it would include Laporte, Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva. Ederson and Leroy Sane probably make it in if it's a top-30 list. No team -- even Liverpool -- goes as deep with world-class talent as City.

Sterling finishing fourth as opposed to first is simply a matter of context and preference. He didn't have to shoulder as much of the load as Hazard, which isn't Sterling's fault, but impacts his value. The English international was more productive than Salah on a per-minute basis, but if we're thinking about this in terms of who generated the most value for his team, Salah staying about as productive as Sterling while playing 309 additional minutes in the league means he brings slightly more to the table. If your criteria are picking the best player on the best team in the league, you could pick Sterling and I wouldn't bat an eye.

3. Eden Hazard, Chelsea

For the reasons I mentioned above, I think Hazard was probably the most important player in the league to his club. If we're using actual finishing versus expected finishing, Hazard's 31 combined goals and assists top the scoring table. Those are two great reasons to place Hazard first. I'd hesitate only because it seems difficult to pick the player of the season from a team that finished 26 points off the pace in the league, even if that had absolutely nothing to do with Hazard's play.

As you can probably surmise, that leaves us with Salah and Virgil van Dijk for the final two spots. I thought I would try to figure out whether the offense or the defense played a bigger part in Liverpool's season, but in using standard score to try to contextualize their performance, I found that Liverpool's offense was 2.0 standard deviations better than the mean. Liverpool's defense was ... 2.0 standard deviations better than the mean. That doesn't help.

Van Dijk turned around the Liverpool defense when he arrived last January, but he had help this season from a starring left-back in Robertson and a wildly expensive keeper in Alisson. Salah shouldered more of the load with Roberto Firmino missing for a chunk of the season, but he also got to play alongside Mane, who helped finish some of the chances Salah created or passed up. Salah made his attacking teammates better. Van Dijk did the same in the defense. Both had their reputations backed up by advanced metrics.

In the end, with the two relatively equal, I have to resort to positional value. With player of the season awards and transfer fees alike, we've generally come to a conclusion that world-class strikers are more valuable than world-class defenders. Van Dijk just sold for £76m, of course, but if Liverpool decided to sell Salah, they would easily get double that figure. (They're not going to sell Salah.)

If Van Dijk and the defense had been the best in the league by a handful of goals, I'd pick him as the player of the season. Instead, with the two Liverpool stars on a similar tier, I'm breaking my own tie by picking the forward over the defender.

2. Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool

1. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Hampshire 291 for 6 (Alsop 131*, Donald 75) v Warwickshire

Tom Alsop's second first-class century lifted Hampshire to a solid 291 for 6 on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Hampshire were looking for leaders in their batting, having lost Aiden Markram and James Vince to international duty and seen India batsman Ajinkya Rahane's debut delayed due to a BCCI player engagement.

Alsop, 23, rose to the challenge in polished fashion. After Hampshire chose to bat, he compiled a career-best unbeaten 131 not out from 273 balls to steer his side away from uncertain positions at 44 for 2 and 171 for 5.

A depleted Warwickshire attack missing the injured Olly Stone, Liam Norwell and Ryan Sidebottom and the unavailable Chris Woakes, persevered well, led by the excellent Olly Hannon-Dalby. But Hampshire got away from them in the final session when Alsop was joined by the aggressive Aneurin Donald.

Hampshire had lost their openers in the first 16 overs. Joe Weatherley fell lbw to Hannon-Dalby in an excellent opening spell of 7-4-4-1 by the seamer and Oliver Soames tickled a leg-side delivery from Jeetan Patel to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.

As Hannon-Dalby and Patel applied pressure, Alsop and Sam Northeast knuckled down to add 73 in 27 overs either side of lunch before the latter played across a Hannon-Dalby in-ducker and was lbw.

When Rilee Rossouw skied Patel to Craig Miles at mid-off, Hampshire were wobbling at 122 for 4. Liam Dawson was immediately fortunate to survive a run-out appeal from Miles' direct hit, but survive he did to add 49 with Alsop before lifting Hannon-Dalby to Rob Yates at point.

At 171 for 5, the day was in the balance but former Glamorgan player Donald yanked it Hampshire's way with a vivid counter-attack. He struck ten fours on his way to a 41-ball fifty and 75 out of a partnership of 84 with Alsop before slashing Hannon-Dalby to gully.

Hannon-Dalby was denied a richly-deserved five-for when Alsop, on 105, was dropped by Dominic Sibley at extra cover. Gareth Berg was also reprieved, on 2, when Henry Brookes grassed a caught-and-bowled chance and, let off the hook somewhat, Hampshire will aim to crack on past 400 on the second day.

That would pile pressure on a Warwickshire top order missing the injured Sam Hain and Ian Bell and including 19-year-old Rob Yates on his first-class debut, and Adam Hose, back after a month out with a broken thumb.

Lancashire29 for 1 trail Northamptonshire 230 (Wood 66, Gleeson 5-63, Onions 4-45) by 201 runs

There was the unmistakable smack of modernity about the cricket at Old Trafford on the first day of this game - yet there was also a pleasing air of timelessness. For all that Northamptonshire's side contained two loan signings and Lancashire's its third Australian debutant of the season, the cosmopolitan make-up of the teams could not quite silence echoes from say, the 1960s, when the first-class season comprised nothing more than a knockout competition and the three-day County Championship.

Though so much has changed, today's county professionals still know what their predecessors faced. Both these teams have over two months of red-ball games ahead of them and whatever the transient gaiety of the Blast might yield, even white-ball specialists like Luke Wright insist that it is upon championship performances that most cricketers are still judged.

So Richard Gleeson will be a contented man this Tuesday evening. Injured at the start of the season and left out of Lancashire's side for the Royal London Cup, Gleeson made good use of a lively first-day pitch to take 5 for 63 against the county to whom he owes so much for helping him revive his career. By sticking to a tight line, he justified Dane Vilas's decision to bat first, a choice whose merit was not lessened by the dismissal five overs before the close of Haseeb Hameed, caught behind for 7 when he pushed forward to a good ball from Ben Sanderson.

That wicket was a setback for Lancashire but it hardly diminished the achievement of their quartet of seamers in dismissing Northamptonshire for 230 on a wicket which, if true to form, should get better. Despite a fine fifty by Luke Wood and a typically determined 48 from Luke Procter on a ground he knows well, Alex Wakely's batsmen had been restricted by Lancashire's four pace bowlers operating in impressive harness. At the day's end Gleeson correctly pointed out that both Tom Bailey and Saqib Mahmood had done all that could be asked yet it was he and Graham Onions who had taken nine of the wickets.

Yet to sharpen that distinction even further it was Gleeson who dismissed four of the top five in Northamptonshire's order after the game had begun in what some may now label the traditional fashion with a tossed coin. Surprisingly to some, Lancashire asked Northants to bat, which is logically what the visitors wanted to do, but the first session neither justified nor mocked Vilas's tactic. The accumulation of 80 runs was balanced by the dismissals of both Ricardo Vasconcelos and Wakely, both of whom were caught behind by Lancashire's wicketkeeper-captain off Gleeson.

Northamptonshire's problems were compounded when Rob Newton went down with a groin problem - a beguiling euphemism covering a multitude of agonies - and required a runner for the rest of his innings. Having displayed chivalry a few moments earlier - more of that later - Vasconcelos now added selflessness to his virtues by agreeing to do the job.

That problem, though, was minor when set beside the disasters that befell the visitors in the first hour after lunch. On the resumption Blackpool-born Gleeson returned to the attack and removed both Newton for 32 and Rob Keogh for 3, both courtesy of leg-before decisions. That left the visitors on 101 for 4 but worse was to follow in the next over when Rob Jones dived to take a superb gully catch off Bailey and send Josh Cobb on his way on his way for nought. Onions may then have been fortunate to get a leg-before decision against Temba Bavuma but the South African debutant's dismissal for 39 left his side on 119 for 6.

Almost all the rest of the session, however, was dominated by a shrewd partnership between Procter, who worked the ball around well, and the Nottinghamshire loanee, Wood who cut the Lancashire bowlers with impressive ease whenever they strayed. Just before the close of an absorbing session Procter was caught at slip by Keaton Jennings for 48 when driving at Gleeson, thus giving the bowler his maiden five-wicket haul for Lancashire in what was his first game of the season and also his home debut. That wicket ended Procter's useful 70-run stand for the seventh wicket with Wood and it was also the prelude to Onions taking the last three wickets in the hour after tea.

Wood perhaps deserves more than to be sent on loan so frequently yet Worcestershire and Northamptonshire's keenness to take him reflects well on his professionalism. He was eventually out for 66 when Bailey got under a mighty hook at long leg and dived to take an excellent catch.

That piece of athleticism and judgement was rightly applauded yet maybe the best moment of the day - and one which recalled the game's ethos - had occurred five hours earlier when Vasconcelos needed only Vilas' assurance that a very low catch off Gleeson had carried before making his way back to the pavilion. It rather recalled the time in another fixture between these sides when Ken Higgs was enraged by David Steele's failure to walk after what the bowler considered an obvious edge.

Those were the days when Steele and Higgs caught the same train to Old Trafford for such games from their homes in the Potteries. But that evening, when he saw the Northamptonshire batsman waiting on the platform, Higgs spurned even the possibility of travelling in the next carriage to someone he believed guilty of sharp practice; instead, he plonked his vast arse on a seat in Piccadilly station and awaited the next departure to Stoke.