5 players who deserved to be shortlisted for UEFA Player of the Year award but weren't
UEFA announced the 10 man shortlist for the UEFA Player of the Year award a week agoAround a week ago, UEFA announced the 10 man shortlist for the UEFA Player of the Year award and the list had the usual suspects - Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba, Carlos Tevez, Gianluigi Buffon, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard completed the Top 10. However, the inclusion of some of these players in the Top 10 and the exclusion of some other players have come as a big surprise.The players were shortlisted after journalists from each of UEFA's 54 member associations provided a list of their five best-ranked players, with the first receiving five points, the second four and so on. Some of the players we believe deserved to be in the Top 10 are outside it and then there is one name which wasn’t even included in the first list which consisted of 35 players.
#1 Kevin De Bruyne
Jose Mourinho is a genius in the transfermarket, because more often than not he gets his transfers spot on. But if I were asked to point out one mistake from the Portuguese, then it would be selling Kevin De Bruyne, because eighteen months after leaving Chelsea, the Belgian is now one of the most coveted midfielders in the game following what was an outstanding season for Wolfsburg.
De Bruyne was instrumental in helping Wolfsburg claim their first DFB-Pokal as he scored the eventual winner in the final against Dortmund and he also guided his side to a second placed finish in the league.
The 24 year old finished the previous season with 16 goals and 27 assists to his name in 51 games across all competitions and in the league alone he registered 10 goals and 20 assists, which puts him on top of the goals involvement (goals and assists combined) chart.
The Belgian also tops the assists chart consisting of players from Europe’s Top 5 leagues with two assists more than Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi in second place with 18. He also has the most number of assists from open play with 17 to his name, which ties him with Messi and puts him ahead of Ronaldo and Suarez in third and fourth respectively.
Despite his brilliant performances on an individual level, it is surprising that he wasn’t voted into the Top 10 for the UEFA Player of the Year award which is given to recognize individual brilliance.