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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.
#2 Arjen Robben
The 2014/15 season was arguably Arjen Robben’s best season on a personal level. The Dutchman was on song throughout the season just as he was during the World Cup, before an unfortunate injury ended his season prematurely.
Robben scored 17 goals in the 21 Bundesliga games he played and it was his personal best in a league season, surpassing the 16 he scored in 24 games during his debut season in Germany. Overall he scored 19 goals in 30 games across all competitions, which is his third highest tally for a season.
The 31-year-old’s 17 goals made him the second-highest scorer in the league behind Alexander Meier with 19 and on par with his teammate Robert Lewandowski, but unlike Meier and Lewandowski, Robben isn’t a striker nor has he played as many games. In addition to this Robben also registered 7 assists to his name, which was the seventh-highest in the league.
Although Robben missed the last two months of the season through an injury, it shouldn’t be a reason to omit him from the Top 10 as Luis Suarez who missed the start of the season through suspension has made the cut.
In terms of impact on the team, Robben is no less to Suarez because Bayern clearly missed his presence in the team towards the end of the season.
#3 Giorgio Chiellini
Although it was Barcelona who won the treble, it is Juventus who have the highest representation in the Top 10 with five players. It is really nice to see that the players of Juventus have been given recognition, but when a striker, three midfielders and the goalkeeper from the team make the Top 10, then why not a defender?
If Tevez, Pirlo, Pogba, Vidal and Buffon have a case for the award, then so does Chiellini, who is an equally important player and provides a similar impact.
Juventus went into the UEFA Champions League final with all of their key players except Chiellini, who was ruled out with an injury. His absence was clearly felt as the Old Lady struggled to cope with the likes of Messi, Suarez and Neymar.
Chiellini was one of the standout performers for Juventus in the earlier rounds, with his most notable game coming against Real Madrid in the semi-final. The Italian battled through the pain of a head injury he suffered during the game and managed to keep the dangerous Real Madrid attackers at bay for a major part of the game.
#4 Ivan Rakitic
When Barcelona sold someone as talented as Cesc Fabregas and replaced the local boy with Ivan Rakitic, it was a decision which raised the eyebrows of many fans; however Rakitic cast aside any lingering doubts about his ability to perform for a team like Barcelona with a dream debut season.
Rakitic seamlessly slotted straight into the Barcelona midfield after taking Xavi’s starting spot. The Croatian may not be able to control the game like Xavi, but he added a different dimension to the Barcelona attack with his long balls, his lung bursting runs, his tenacity and energy. He scored goals, gave assists, provided key passes and then at the end of everything he would be there providing cover in defense.
His defining moment of the season was when he opened the scoring in the UEFA Champions League final and he could have doubled his tally if Suarez arrived a fraction of a second late to collect the rebound which led to the second goal.
The Croatian was one of the biggest bargain buys of last summer and was a crucial signing for the Catalans just like Suarez or Bravo.
When you see that three Juventus midfielders made the list and not one Barcelona midfielder made it, it is quite saddening and undermining the contributions made by players like Rakitic.
#5 Alexandre Lacazette
While the previous four players made the 35 player shortlist, one deserving candidate didn’t even make the list.
Alexandre Lacazette who won the Ligue 1 player of the year award for an outstanding domestic season, but he wasn’t even among the 35 names released by UEFA, while other Ligue 1 players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Andre-Pierre Gignac were named in it.
Lacazette was the Ligue 1 top scorer with 27 goals, which was six more than Gignac in second place and nine more than Ibrahimovic in third place. This is a remarkable achievement considering that he played only 31 league games owing to injury and he finished the season with 31 goals from 38 games across all competitions.
The Frenchman was also the third highest scorer in Europe among the top 5 domestic leagues and the only players who managed to score more league goals than him were Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It is shocking that Lacazette hasn’t even made the list despite enjoying such an amazing season and beating the likes of Ibrahimovic and Cavani to win Ligue 1 awards.
