Lucas Ribeiro is the Player of the Season – Miguel Cardoso

Although he rested the Brazilian on Wednesday night in their Betway Premiership win over Chippa United, bringing him on as a substitute after the hour mark, Cardoso insists Ribiero has done enough to get the accolade.

The category will be voted for by the 15 topflight coaches if the new title sponsors retain the same criteria used during the DStv Premiership era.

Cardoso adds that it’s natural that Ribeiro would not perform to his best in every game, but he is the clear favourite.

"A player like Lucas is clearly the player of the league this season, that has expressed himself not only this year but has been [consistent] but this year he exploded. He just brings good things, the question is that sometimes people look at a player and I'm not speaking about today, they look at a player or a team and they expect a goal after goal after goal and they don't relate to the level that he promotes to the other ones,” Cardoso said.

“I think what happened is that, at first in the league he was profiting of more spaces to play rather than the ones that he has now and the last games it has been very narrow for him.

“With marking very strong with two, three players around him and he had to attack a little bit more with how he was playing. Now he plays with a little bit more pressure, so more for the goal, and he needs to play more for the team."

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Ribiero is currently the league’s top goal scorer with 13 goals and has also contributed with seven assists in 24 matches.

Cardoso says numbers don’t lie.

"I've been hearing that he'll probably be elected Player of the Season and the stats he has, the numbers he has of the season are amazing on assists, on goals and the quality. I think he's a player that brings something on the pitch so I'm really happy to have him,” the coach added.

“Today it was literally a question of managing and I feel that the fact that we are now choosing, it seems that we are choosing the Player of the Season, also makes him want to show something that he doesn't need to show. He showed already a lot of times and that will come naturally for sure."