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The Professional Footballer’s Association Team of the Year, also known as the PFA Team of the year, is given to a set of 44 players in England’s top four divisions. The players selected are considered to have been the best in their respective positions in the just-concluded season. The nominees are compiled during January by the members of the player’s trade union and the players vote for the winners in their respective division.
Steven Gerrard holds the record for the most inclusions in the PFA Team of the year in the Premier League era with 8. Decent players like Thomas Vermaelen and Wes Morgan have made it to the team of the year in the past editions, whereas better players like Marc Overmars, Ledley King and Gianfranco Zola, couldn’t make the cut. These are few of the honourable mentions and highlights the quality of players to have missed out on the accolade.
Here are 5 of the best who weren’t considered for the Team of the Year:
#5 Luka Modric
Though he was in the Premier League for only four seasons, Luka Modric became a vital cog alongside Gareth Bale in an effervescent Spurs team that qualified for the Champions League under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp. Signed for a then club record £16.5 million, the Croatian International quickly became the manager’s dream, mixing his tenacious work off the ball with the ability to pick out a pass.
Modric’s best performance came during the 2010/11 campaign when he was voted as Tottenham’s player of the year as he chipped in with 3 goals and recorded the highest average number of passes per game for Spurs.
His performances caught the eye of legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson who would have chosen Modric as his player of the year. Despite the big recognition, the Croatian didn't get the nod for the team of the year as Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere was preferred ahead of him. During his time in England, the likes of Ashley Young, Darren Fletcher and James Milner made the cut whilst he missed out.
In 2012 Modric completed a £30 million move to Real Madrid where his talents have been much better appreciated. Since his arrival in the Spanish capital, the Croatian maestro has been named La Liga’s best midfielder twice as well as been a part of the La Liga’s team of the year once, which is no mean feat considering the midfield talents in Spain.
#4 Xabi Alonso
A central midfield maestro, Xabi Alonso was considered to be a legend during his time in the Premier League with Liverpool. In five seasons at Anfield, Alonso’s intelligence and pinpoint passing accuracy made him an opposition’s worst nightmare. At one point in time, Liverpool’s midfield trio of Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard was considered to be the best in the Premier League.
Playing at a time when the league was dominated by all-action midfielders like Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes, the Spaniard’s languid style meant that he was never considered for individual awards. It is, in fact, a testament to his superlative ability that his presence made the team greater than the sum of its parts.
A multiple Champions league winner as well as La Liga and Bundesliga winner, the 114-cap Spanish International has had his fair share of individual awards, voted as La Liga's best midfielder for the 2011/12 season as well as being part of the 2014/15 Bundesliga team of the year.
#3 Claude Makelele
The pioneer of the ‘Makelele’ role, Claude Makelele was the one player who redefined the role of a holding midfielder, subsequently making managers and owners realise the importance of the position. Nowadays, most teams play with a designated water carrier (a player who is hard-working and competent and allows other players to flourish).
Makelele was so underrated by opposition players that never made it to the PFA team of the Year despite Mourinho’s rampant Chelsea side dominating the Premier League in the mid-2000s. Like Alonso, Makelele faced stern competition as his less flamboyant role couldn’t lead to perhaps as many votes as Gerrard’s long-range strikes or Viera’s routine running of games did.
Yet, there was no shortage of appreciation from Chelsea fans and players as the Frenchman was voted as Chelsea’s Players’ player of the year in 2006, ahead of teammates like Terry, Gallas, Lampard and Joe Cole who all made it to the PFA team of the year. It was the Frenchman’s efforts that the likes of Kante and Busquets now enjoy the share of the limelight.
#2 Robbie Fowler
The 6th highest scorer in Premier League history, Robbie Fowler can consider himself very unfortunate to have played in something of a golden era of English strikers. Having just made 26 appearances for the Three Lions, Fowler was competing with the likes of Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Teddy Sheringham and Ian Wright, which somewhat explains his absence from the PFA team of the year. In a decade and a half, the Englishman would go onto score 163 premier league goals for the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester City.
Yet the 2-time young player of the year would consider it as a great misfortune to not have made it to the PFA Team of the year. During the 1994/95 season, at just 19-years of age, Fowler would plunder 25 goals in the league finishing just behind Alan Shearer (34 goals) in the top scorers' list, yet Jurgen Klinsmann (21 goals) and Chris Sutton (15 goals) would make it into the Team of the year.
The following season, Fowler would better his tally (28 goals), again finishing second only to Shearer (31 goals) yet Newcastle’s Les Ferdinand (25 goals) would go on to claim a place in the PFA team of the year.
#1 Sergio Aguero
Probably, the most deserving player on the list, Sergio Aguero has gone on to become a Manchester City legend since his arrival in 2011. Currently, in his 7th season for the club and on the verge of winning his 3rd Premier League title, Aguero has again delivered the goods scoring 21 times in just 23 appearances despite Guardiola’s preference for Gabriel Jesus.
Such has been Aguero’s luck, he is the only golden boot winner in the current decade not to be a part of the PFA team of the year. During the 2014/15 season, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea team led by a rampaging Diego Costa easily ran away with the league, but it was Aguero who won the golden boot with 26 goals. Yet both Costa (20 goals) and Harry Kane (22 goals) who finished 5th with Spurs made it to the PFA Team of the year.
Since arriving in Manchester from Atletico Madrid, Aguero has been absolutely devastating in front of goal and has the best minutes to goal ratio of any player in the Premier League era, scoring 143 times in 203 premier league games.
The Argentine has scored 20+ league goals in five of his seven seasons at the Etihad including the current one, yet with the likes of Kane and Salah in red-hot form, Aguero’s chances of being selected in this year’s Team of the year seems bleak.
