Professional Footballers’ Association Players’ Player of the Year is what most fans consider the most prestigeous annual football award voted for by the players themselves where they select the best player, and young player of the year, as well as the best team. The world’s top football tipster took an in-depth look at the winners and comented on their selection for us:
In goal, we find Manchester United’s Spaniard, David de Gea who has performed incredibly well throughout the season. The keeper worked very hard in the summer on his physical aspect in order to allow him to deal with the demands of the League and the benefits have been apparent for all. At right-back we have Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, who has been the most consistent player in his team and the Premier League, defending incredibly well but always prepared to dart forward on the wing and make his presence felt in the opposition’s area contributing with quite a few vitally important goals, like the one that eliminated Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final. The centre-back pairing of John Terry and Gary Cahill represent another of the strengths of the Blues this season in defence, with both these players dominating the areas with the physical presence. At left-back we find Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand who has spent the last few years on loan from Chelsea in various different clubs but has finally earned his place in this very impressive Southampton squad when they signed him at the beginning of the season. The role of defensive midfielder goes to Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic, who left the blues for a very small fee before being re-signed for the Blues for an incredible £21m and has been decisive in their title charge this year. The two creative midfielders are Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinhoand Chelsea’s Edin Hazard. The young Brazilian was bought cheaply from Italian side Internazionale, two years ago, and has developed into a real magician scoring some wonderful goals in the process too. Chelsea’s Belgian has been hands-down their best player throughout and was voted Player of the Year too, hehas be so instrumental in their title chase, but what has been most convincing is that even if he has been the most fouled player in the League, he has been able to avoid injury and deliver constantly at a very high level. The first of the striking trio, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez has been the heart of the gunners and definitely the best buy of the summer transfer market alongside Chelsea’s Diego Costa. The Blues’ striker has never been too far from the headlines, too often for the wrong reason, but he has been a real handful and exactly the player the Champions in waiting were lacking last year. The last player on our list, Tottenham’s striker Harry Kane, who was also voted Young Player of the Year, proves that dreams do come true in football. A lifelong spurs fan that ends up playing for his team, and debut’s for England, as well as scoring the winning goal in “the derby” match against hated rivals Arsenal.
A top football betting expert has suggested though, that often these awards are voted in order to favour teammates and not really based on personal opinion, leading to some greats never winners such as Peter Schemichel, Ian Wright and the Italian Magician, Gianfranco Zola.