Mark Holmes hands out the sought-after TEAMtalk Soccer for Player of the Season as week one of the 2011-12 ceremony draws to a close.

The PFA and FWA Player of the Season awards have already been handed out, but the trophy the top stars really want on their mantelpiece is the TEAMtalk Soccer.

This season's winner was extremely hard to pick, however. Players such as David Silva started superbly but faded, Antonio Valencia on the other hand missed the start of the season but finished it brilliantly, and then Papiss Cisse and Nikica Jelavic made terrific impacts following January transfer moves.

Players at lower-ranked clubs like Clint Dempsey and Grant Holt also came into consideration, but none of the above quite made our top five.

Player of the Season - by Mark Holmes

5. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United):

Rooney's achievements this season have been surprisingly downplayed.

Perhaps it would have been different had Manchester United held on to win the title but their late collapse should not detract from what a good season they had - and Rooney was at the heart of that.

He scored a career-best 35 goals in total and 27 in the Premier League - only three less than Robin van Persie and in four less games - and his overall contribution to the team was immeasurable.

Remember, this is a world-class centre forward that has played in midfield and wide left this season. He has matured hugely over the past nine months, putting the team before himself and cutting out the moments of ill-discipline that have blighted him in the past.

Simply put, he deserves far more credit than he has been given.

4. Yaya Toure (Manchester City):

No matter how many millions of pounds you spend building a team there will always be that one big-game player that steps up when it's most needed.

That player at Manchester City is Yaya Toure. He proved it last season with goals in the FA Cup semi-final and final, and his two strikes at Newcastle this term were arguably the most crucial of the Blues' entire campaign.

Like Rooney, he is a player that perhaps doesn't get the credit he deserves, but the rocky patch City experienced during his spell at the African Nations Cup left fans in no doubt about his importance to the team.

Roberto Mancini must do everything in his power to keep hold of the Ivorian this summer.

3. Vincent Kompany (Manchester City):

Kompany was recently named the Barclays Player of the Season after another impressively-consistent nine months for the Citizens.

His header in the 1-0 win over Manchester United alone earns him a place in City folklore but it is testament to just how good a defender the Belgian is that he is spoken of so highly by a set of fans that get to watch talents such as David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli on a weekly basis.

While that trio claim the headlines more regularly, Kompany is the one that, as captain, leads from the front both in terms of his performances and his attitude on the pitch.

He is the bedrock of City's side and, despite all the fine players that have arrived at Eastlands in recent seasons, supporters will tell you Kompany has been their best signing of the modern era.

2. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City):

You may feel it is too obvious to name three Manchester City players in a Player of the Season list, but Aguero is another without whom the club simply could not have won the Premier League.

Voted City's Player of the Season by their fans, Aguero's success has been as impressive as it has been surprising: one only has to consider the time it took Silva to settle in the Premier League to know how impressive Aguero's achievements have been this term.

He scored 30 goals in all, 23 of which came in the league, and that sort of return is virtually unheard of for a foreign player in their debut campaign on these shores.

The Argentinian is far more than simply a goalscorer, though, and the flare he has provided Mancini's men this season has transformed them from an efficient if slighly boring team to one that thrills fans and neutrals on a weekly basis.

He will surely go down as one of the Premier League's best ever imports.

1. Robin van Persie (Arsenal):

As well as the aforementioned players have performed this season, none have been quite as important to their teams as Van Persie has to Arsenal.

When deciding on a Player of the Season, the most important things to consider are a player's consistency, the effect they have had on their team's season and the impact they have made on the league as a whole.

Kompany can challenge Van Persie in terms of consistency, but it's questionable whether any player has ever had such an effect on a team's season as the Dutchman has on Arsenal's over the past nine months.

There is no magic formula to discover how many points he has won the Gunners, but it's highly doubtful they'd have made the Champions League without him and that makes him worth his weight in gold to a club that needs to be competing in Europe's premier competition.

His tally of 37 goals in 48 appearances is quite extraodinary, and scoring 30 goals in a Premier League season is something few players have managed over the past 20 years.

Van Persie set up a further nine goals in the league, meaning he scored or assisted over half of Arsenal's entire Premier League tally.

What's more, he scored goals in big games - who can forget his hat-trick at Chelsea - and special goals that will live long in the memory such as his superb volley against Everton.

There is no question that the 28-year-old was the stand-out player in the Premier League over the past nine months and we can only hope his talents are still on English shores come September 1.