On Sunday, 26 April, the Grosvenor House in London will play host to the 2015 PFA Player of the Year Awards.
The nominees for Men’s Player of the Year, currently held by former Liverpool player Luis Suarez, are:
- Chelsea’s Diego Costa,
- Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho,
- Manchester United’s David de Gea,
- Chelsea’s Eden Hazard,
- Tottenham’s Harry Kane, and
- Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez
Nominees for Men’s Youth Player of the Year are:
- Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois,
- Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho,
- Manchester United’s David de Gea,
- Chelsea’s Eden Hazard (current holder),
- Tottenham’s Harry Kane, and
- Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling
Nominees for Women’s Player of the Year are:
- Chelsea’s Eniola Aluko,
- Manchester City’s Lucy Bronze (current holder),
- Birmingham City’s Karen Carney,
- Notts County’s Jess Clarke,
- Arsenal’s Kelly Smith, and
- Chelsea’s Ji So-Yun
Nominees for Women’s Youth Player of the Year, currently held by Liverpool Ladies’ Martha Harris, are:
- Birmingham City’s Freda Ayisi,
- Chelsea’s Hannah Blundell,
- Birmingham City’s Aoife Mannion,
- Manchester City’s Nikita Parris, and
- Arsenal’s Leah Williamson
[Note: For an in-depth look at the Women’s and Women’s Youth Players of the Year, Daily Cannon’s Sylvain Jamet has more here and here.]
Bookmakers have already chosen their odds-on favourites to win the Men’s and Men’s Youth as Eden Hazard and Harry Kane, each at 1/6 and 1/10.
As the top side in the Barclay’s Premier League, there can be no question that Chelsea’s two leading scorers, Diego Costa and Eden Hazard, and their top man in goal, Thibaut Courtois, should be nominated. Alexis Sanchez, although being in a mild slump lately, is Arsenal’s top goal scorer and deserves mention for a second-place club. David de Gea has likewise been a lifesaver for Manchester United all season long – and they are currently third.
It makes you wonder how the remainder of the nominees were really chosen. Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling haven’t been all that prolific over the course of the year, and Liverpool is hanging on to a distant fifth place. Harry Kane has only been hot for just a few months in a side that’s currently locked in seventh.
Are there no other players on the top three teams that are worthy of nomination, or have players like Mesut Ozil been erroneously slagged in the press for so long that he can’t possibly be considered for the league’s most valuable player.
Nominees are supposed to be chosen by the Professional Footballers Association, an organisation of professional association of footballers in England and Wales – the players’ peers. It almost seems as these latter three were chosen by the professional sports writers and commentators associations whom seemingly have been hyping these players since January – so over-the-top as to make Harry Kane an odds-on favourite.
Are they really worthy to sit along the Premier League’s ‘best of the best’, or is there another agenda afoot?