Chelsea Duo Shortlisted for PFA Young Player of the Year

Chelsea’s recruitment drive is already paying off. Two of their newest faces now find themselves in the thick of the race to be crowned England’s best young player.

Buurman and Thompson have both been shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, voted for by their fellow professionals, after eye-catching debut campaigns in blue.

Buurman’s route to the nomination was anything but straightforward. She officially joined Chelsea in September 2024, then immediately went back to PSV on loan. The real work started last summer, when she was folded into the first-team squad and told to prove she belonged.

She did. Across all competitions, Buurman pulled on the shirt 24 times, growing in influence as the season wore on. Her breakthrough moment came in the FA Cup, in a high-stakes quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur. Under pressure, she delivered with style, scoring her first Chelsea goal in a statement performance that underlined why the club had moved for her in the first place.

If Buurman’s rise has been steady, Thompson’s has been relentless.

Signed last summer from Angel City, the 21-year-old wasted no time becoming a fixture. She racked up 33 appearances in the 2025/26 campaign, the joint-highest total in the squad alongside Erin Cuthbert. That alone says plenty about the trust placed in her by the coaching staff.

She added end product to that workload as well. Thompson scored nine times in all competitions, a return bettered only by star striker Sam Kerr. For a first season in English football, those are serious numbers.

The scale of Chelsea’s impact on the division is reflected in the shortlist itself. Six names, two of them from Stamford Bridge. A full third of the field in blue.

They face stiff competition. Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown, London Lionesses’ Freya Godfrey, Tottenham Hotspur’s Toko Koga and Arsenal’s Olivia Smith complete a balanced, talent-heavy list that stretches across the top tier and beyond. Each has built a compelling case; all of them have been noticed by their peers.

But peer recognition is exactly what makes this prize different. It is players judging players, a dressing-room vote of confidence rather than a media construct. To break into that conversation in a first Chelsea season is no small feat.

The verdict will come at the PFA’s annual awards ceremony at the Manchester Opera House on Tuesday 25 August, when one name will be read out and a breakthrough year officially rubber-stamped.

For Buurman and Thompson, just being there is proof that their first chapter at Chelsea has landed. The next question is simple: how far can they push the bar from here?