Robert Sanchez wins WAB Brighton Sexiest Player of the Season Award
Robert Sanchez has had quite the debut season in goal for Brighton. A club record for consecutive top flight clean sheets, a place in the Spain squad at Euro 2020 (in 2021) and finally, topping the poll in the WAB Sexiest Player of the Season Award.
Sanchez netted 39.96 percent of the vote and there is a certain irony that he takes the crown from 2019-20’s winner Maty Ryan in the same way as he took Ryan’s number one shirt.
The Australian instead had to settle for sixth place, a remarkable fall from grace for a man who was also voted Sexiest Player of the Season in 2017-18.
Even Ryan’s good looks appear to have taken a hit in the eyes of Albion supporters from the messy way in which his Brighton career came to an end.
Sanchez’s victory should not come as a surprise, however. He was up for our Look-a-Like of the Season Award too due to his uncanny resemblance to the Duke of Hastings from Bridgerton, a man who has been swooned over since the hit Netflix series first appeared on our screens at Christmas.
What Robert Sanchez has brought to the looks department of the Brighton first team, he has matched in the goalkeeping stakes. The Albion won just two of their first 18 matches of the season with Ryan in goal for the majority.
Once Sanchez was established between the sticks, that record became seven in 20 with the Seagulls eventually ending the season comfortably clear of the drop zone, albeit in a disappointingly low 16th place.
Sanchez’s success continues the domination of this award by Spain. El Capitan Bruno triumphed in 2019, Inigo Calderon was a back-to-back winner in 2015 and 2016, Barcelona-born Andrea Orlandi won in both 2013 and 2014 and Vicente took the inaugural award at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.
Then only non-Spanish winners in the nine editions of WAB Sexiest Player of the Season have been Ryan’s two victories and Shane Duffy, the rugged Irishman taking the title at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.
It was another debutant who has gone to Euro 2020 (in 2021) who took second spot in the poll. Ben White has enjoyed a sensational season culminating in an England call up and a bidding war starting at £50 million for his services.
White ended up winning the Albion’s Official Player of the Season Award, thanks in part to rumoured vote rigging from the people of Leeds on a scale that had Kim Jong-un screaming with approval.
If there was a concerted South Yorkshire campaign to help White win our Sexiest Player award, then it fell a little short as he ended up with 23.07 percent of the vote. His boyish good looks, his friendly charm and his dedication to fake tan would have been a worthy winner.
Now, you may have noted one very obvious absentee from that roll call of previous winners mentioned earlier – Handsome Davy Propper. The Dutch midfielder has been always the bridesmaid, never the bride when it comes to Sexiest Player of the Season and in his final year at the Albion, he once again has to settle for third place.
Propper was not far behind White, taking 20.41 percent. Perhaps if Graham Potter had given Handsome Davy the first team opportunities his talent deserved then he may have fared better in 2020-21. Alas, we will never know.
All we can hope now is that PSV Eindhoven supporters can recognise Propper’s good looks and he wins Sexiest Player of the Season from their WAB equivalent at the end 2021-22. It is the least he deserves.
WeAreBrighton.com Brighton Sexiest Player of the Season 2020-21 – The Results
Robert Sanchez – 39.96%
Ben White – 23.07%
Handsome Davy Propper – 20.41%
Solly March – 7.78%
Neal Maupay – 4.84%
Maty Ryan – 3.28%
Previous Winners: Maty Ryan (2020, 2018), Bruno (2019), Shane Duffy (2017), Inigo Calderon (2016, 2015), Andrea Orlandi (2014, 2013), Vicente (2012)
