Probably nobody close to him. The arguement is we don't know if someone else would have done just as good. I believe we know the answer to that because set pieces is a skill that so few of our players have been good at over the years. It's like saying lets discount all the Winnall goals because we don't know if we'd have played Lita instead if he'd have scored just as many.
His replacement may have got 12 goals. We don't know. It can't be argued. Which was the point I was making - we don't know how we would have done if we'd not signed him.
It's a simple equation, it's not about if's or maybes. Conor delivered, it's about the facts. Statistics also tell us not many players have provided many more assists at any level. We had our best run during Conor's worst spell, but shows how important his goals and assists were during a period we weren't doing so well as a team. Without doubt MVP this season.
The argument someone else might have done the same is redundant given we've not had anyone in midfield contribute that many goals and assists since Hignett(?) Oddly no one bitched about his tackling.
You could apply this logic to any player in the world. Barcelona's front three this season have scored over 100 goals between them, but maybe a different three would have scored 200? The point is Conor DID get all those assists and goals so deservedly won player of the season. He might not be your cup of tea, but you can't ignore the numbers just because you don't rate him I'm afraid.