FIFA 18: 5 most surprising inclusions in Team of the Year nominees

EA Sports has recently released the nominees for the FIFA 18 Team of the Year. While there are many players who have earned their spot on the list, there are also a few who could easily be replaced by others.

The list is full of players from Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and also Premier League stars from the top six sides of England. There are five probables for every position in a 4-3-3 formation.

Let's have a look at the players who were a surprise pick and shouldn't have been included in the list.

#1 Leonardo Bonucci

After helping Juventus reach the final of the Champions League, nothing has gone right for the Leonardo Bonucci. In the final, Juventus' defence was humbled in a 4-1 rout by Real Madrid.

Reportedly, Bonucci had a spat with Dani Alves after the Champions League final and both had to be transferred by the club. While Alves went to Paris Saint-Germain, the Italian centre-back secured a massive 40 million euros move to rivals AC Milan.

At Milan, he has failed without the support of his former teammates and was even sent off once in a Serie A match against Genoa. He also failed with the national team as Italy could not qualify for the FIFA 2018 World Cup.

#2 Filipe Luis

Filipe Luis was part of an Atletico Madrid team that were romped by Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final and finished third in the La Liga behind their city rivals and Barcelona.

Luis lost his starting spot to Marcelo in Brazil's qualification for the 2018 World Cup. The season 2017-18 has been even worse as Atletico were knocked out from the Champions League from the group stage after reaching two finals in the last three years.

Instead of Luis, Sead Kolasinac, or Marcos Alonso should have easily found a place on the list.

#3 Andres Iniesta

Iniesta has had a poor year with Barcelona as the Spanish giants couldn't stop rivals Real Madrid from clinching either the Champions League or the league title.

The ageing Spaniard has lost his pace over time which has affected his overall performance. Ernesto Valverde has kept him on the bench for a number of matches this season as well. With Phillippe Coutinho signing for the Catalan club in January, days for Iniesta at the club look numbered.

Instead of Iniesta, Nemanja Matic of Manchester United or David Silva of Manchester City should have found a place on the list.

#4 Radja Nainggolan

Roma failed to win the Serie A or any other major title in the year 2017 but Nainggolan has been included in the list of probables for the best team of the year.

He was left out by Roberto Martinez for Belgium's important matches last year citing that he has regularly not given enough reasons to Martinez to justify his inclusion even in the squad.

It is yet to be seen if he will be selected by the manager for the 2018 FIFA World Cup but he has been included in the list released by EA and it is definitely a controversial call.

#5 Alexis Sanchez

The contract situation with Arsenal has been a big issue for Alexis Sanchez and that has affected his performances largely in the year 2017. He couldn't help his team Arsenal to even qualify for the Champions League.

Furthermore, his national team Chile failed to qualify for the FIFA 2018 World Cup despite him leading the line for the time with able support from Eduardo Vargas and Alex Vidal.

In a disappointing year, it's surprising to see the name of the Chilean on the list released by EA. Instead of Sanchez, maybe, Liverpool's Mohammed Salah, who has been in the form of his life, could have been selected.