The Professional Footballers’ Association have revealed their nominees for the 2022/23 Players’ Player of the Season in an announcement that promises to cause outrage one way or another in the Twitter-sphere.
The nominees are all worthy of their place, but that will not stop the legions of social media fan accounts from sharpening their blades and going to war with another.
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the nominees play for Manchester City and Arsenal, who both enjoyed wonderful seasons and boasted some of England’s most consistently brilliant footballers last season.
While there is a clear favourite for the award, it is certainly worth having a look at the six nominees in more detail – and ranking them just to add more fuel to the fire.
Somewhat surprisingly, Harry Kane has never won the PFA Player of the Year award, and that is unlikely to change this year.
While Kane managed 30 goals in 38 Premier League games, he did so in an underperforming Tottenham side who failed to make any real impact domestically or in European competition. While that shouldn’t necessarily be taken into consideration for an individual award, it naturally influences the opinion of players.
When you also consider that Kane wasn’t even the Premier League’s top scorer, it is difficult to envisage him winning it this year.
The hipster’s choice, John Stones did enjoy a fantastic season with Man City, and was crucial to the club’s success. His ability to move into central midfield from centre-back enabled Pep Guardiola to transform his system, offering the Sky Blues an overload in central areas and added security defensively.
However, while Stones was terrific, a significant portion of the credit has to go to Guardiola. The English defender carried out his coach’s plan wonderfully, but his individual quality was not quite at the level of those above him on this list.
When Kevin De Bruyne is fit and firing, Man City are a different beast. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old has started to become more injury-prone as he enters the latter part of his career, and is currently sidelined with a hamstring problem that may keep him out for up to four months.
De Bruyne remains the kind of footballer you would pay good money to watch in the flesh, an undeniable talent whose brainwave is simply on a different frequency to everybody else.
The Belgian accumulated nine goals and a staggering 29 assists in all competitions last season, a frankly ludicrous output.
Alongside the likes of De Bruyne last season, Odegaard was one of English football’s chief creators. He popped up with 15 goals and eight assists from attacking midfield in the Premier League, all while wearing the captain’s armband.
The Norwegian’s left foot produced some sublime strikes and helped propel Arsenal towards the upper echelons of the league table. His work ethic, technical precision and ingenuity make him unplayable at his best, something which many opponents found out the hard way last season.
You cannot dislike Bukayo Saka. His effervescence and wizardry make him one of the most enjoyable players to watch in world football, and he took his game to new heights last campaign.
Saka provided 14 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League, featuring in every single one of Arsenal’s games. The 21-year-old is also nominated for the Young Player of the Year award following a staggering season with the Gunners in which he has blossomed into a talismanic figure at the Emirates Stadium.
Saka could become the first English winner of the Players’ Player of the Year since Wayne Rooney in 2009/10.
The social media warriors can fight it out among themselves, but anyone who says Erling Haaland doesn’t deserve this award is being needlessly controversial.
52 goals and nine assists in all competitions, smashing the Premier League goalscoring record and winning the treble, it can’t really be anybody else, can it?
Haaland would become only the third Man City player to win the award, with his teammate De Bruyne having won it in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 season.
On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss Liverpool’s response to losing out on Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, Harry Maguire’s Man Utd future and more!
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