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Defender James Tarkowski has been named as The Athletic's Player of the Season for Everton.

The 31-year-old tops the league ranking for aerial duels won (145) and blocks (82), and is second in the number of his clearances (191).

However, it's not just his defensive work receiving recognition, but his threat on set-pieces and his leadership qualities throughout the campaign.

"Everton and Tarkowski have been masters of the air in the Premier League this season," wrote Patrick Boyland. "Their rate of 7.6 goals per 100 set pieces makes them the top flight’s most potent attacking unit by this measure, with only Arsenal bettering their actual number of goals scored from dead-ball situations.

"Tarkowski, meanwhile, won the most aerial duels (145) in the league, four clear of the man in second place — his Goodison team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Among his positional peers, the centre-back was in the top one per cent for touches in the opposition penalty area, causing havoc with his physicality and aerial prowess.

"In a campaign where Everton found open-play goals hard to come by, that set-piece prowess was a difference-maker.

"Picking a 2023-24 winner for Everton has been tougher than in previous years, where goalkeeper Pickford’s routine brilliance went unrivalled and almost single-handedly kept them out of the EFL. 

"Jarrad Branthwaite also excelled, the centre-back adapting seamlessly to Premier League football.

"Either of those two would be a deserving winner of this award. But it is Tarkowski who has made the most indelible mark on Everton’s season as a whole — both on and off the pitch. 

"The now 31-year-old has become a leader in the dressing room at Goodison, often wearing the armband in games where club captain Seamus Coleman, who only made seven league starts this season, is unavailable.

"He is seen as someone who sets standards, tells home truths when needed (particularly after the 6-0 defeat against Chelsea in April that forced something of a reset) and transmits a sense of calm amid the turbulence. As with Coleman, team-mates take notice of what he says and he is the one who often fronts up and speaks to the media after bad results.

"A dependable, old-school defender, Tarkowski led the league in blocks, was second for clearances and fourth for interceptions. He is yet to miss a league game in his two seasons for Everton, starting all 76, with the club’s recruitment team having placed emphasis at the time of signing on durable players who could improve the squad’s overall injury record.

"Without Tarkowski in the side, it may well have been a different story. His 2022 free-transfer arrival is now viewed within the club as the best business Everton and their director of football Kevin Thelwell have done for some time."

Elsewhere, Lewis Dobbin has reflected on his breakthrough season with the Blues, which included a maiden top-flight strike.

“It was one of the best feelings I have ever had,” the 21-year-old told the Liverpool ECHO, as he reflected on the moment he scored his first goal for the Club against Chelsea.

“I kind of knew when it left my foot. I caught it well and the keeper was a bit flat-footed so I knew straight away.

“It was a bit of a blur,. It was a natural reaction, a pour out of emotion. I didn’t really know what to do at the time. I had dreamt about it but I had never really thought too much into the celebration because I knew if I was to score I wouldn’t know what to do. My just emotions took over. It is my boyhood club. I have been here since the age of 11. To have that moment was a bit of relief. It showed the hard work can pay off and hopefully I get many more.

“It was surreal. They (Evertonians) have had a tough season with what they have been through so to have a moment like that takes a bit away from what has been going on on the outside and you get to live in the moment. To hear that crowd noise was just surreal.

“[My first Everton goal] would have been special regardless but I think having it in front of a full Goodison is what you dream of growing up in the academy. I think that made it extra special.”

Looking ahead to next season, Dobbin added: “I will do the same again, work hard in the summer - get stronger, get faster, get fitter, come back firing again and hopefully get my chance again.

“He (Sean Dyche) is open with it. You are only going to play if he thinks you are ready and you are capable of playing at that level.

“You have got to earn your chance, which is what I prefer because if I know I am pushing towards something, and if I am performing at a high level, I am going to get the chance to have that reward.

“It gives you confidence if you know that, if you are hitting the right level, he will put his confidence in you and trust you. It shows I am in control of what I am in control of and it is down to me where I can go.”