Making a Case for Each of the PFA Player of the Year Shortlist
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Player of the Year shortlist has been announced, via the association's official Twitter account, with the six players on it having all had exceptional seasons.
Table-toppers Liverpool have seen three of their players nominated, with captain Steven Gerrard joining strike duo Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. The list is completed by Chelsea's Eden Hazard, Manchester City's Yaya Toure and Southampton's Adam Lallana.
Any of the six would be worthy winners, but who will take the crown?
Here, we make a case for each of the nominees:
Luis Suarez
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The clue is in the name, the Player of the Year, and this year, there has been no player who is as compelling to watch as Liverpool’s Suarez.
As the inspiration behind the Reds' remarkable and unlikely title challenge, the Uruguayan has fired 29 goals in 29 games, breaking the club’s Premier League goalscoring record and producing a series of world-class performances along the way.
During a four-game spell in December alone, Suarez scored 10 Premier League goals, which is more than all but 15 players have managed in the division all season and only one less than Robin van Persie’s season-long total of 11.
Suarez will end the season as the Premier League’s top scorer and maybe even as a league champion too. Whilst there are incidents from his past which will ensure that he will never truly find favour with many, he’s been largely controversy-free this season and has won a series of new fans as a result.
The forward is an extremely rare talent, and whilst his peers might not be too pleased to come up against him when he’s in the kind of form that he has regularly displayed this season, they cannot help but admire his quality.
He’d be a worthy winner of the award.
Yaya Toure
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The driving force behind the Manchester City machine, Toure has enjoyed by far his most prolific season in front of goal during this campaign.
The Ivorian midfielder’s 18 Premier League goals during 2013/14 equal the amount that he managed over the previous three campaigns combined, and he has come to be seen as a recognised leader within his squad.
Toure has been simply excellent, with the highlights of his season coming with a hat-trick against Fulham, goals in both Manchester derbies this season and a stunning strike in the Capital One Cup final victory over Sunderland at Wembley.
You could see how much his team missed his influence when he limped off in the defeat to Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, and Toure will be desperate to return to try and boost City’s flagging title hopes as soon as possible.
Perhaps the perfect example of the modern midfield player, Toure frequently covers more ground than any of his opponents during matches, and he must be considered a nightmare to play against for all of them.
His main strength is indeed his strength, and it has become a Premier League trademark to see him rampaging up and down pitches across the land in the pursuit of what’s best for City.
He probably deserves an award such as this in his career, but will it be this season?
Eden Hazard
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This could be regarded as the season in which Chelsea’s Hazard came of age.
The 23-year-old Belgian is the same age that Gareth Bale was when he won both the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year awards last season, and under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, he’s developed into a top-class attacking talent. A talent who contributes the goals to prove it.
Hazard has found the net 14 times in the Premier League this season, ensuring that only Toure has scored more goals amongst the division’s recognised midfielders, and in a Chelsea side which doesn’t exactly win rave reviews for its attacking prowess, he stands out as one of their most gifted performers.
The Belgian came to England from Ligue 1 club Lille with a huge reputation in the summer of 2012. Although he showed glimpses of just why that reputation was so high in his first season at Stamford Bridge, this has been the one in which he has really kicked on and become easily recognisable as one of the top performers in the division.
Chelsea still have a great chance of winning the league title this season, and they’ll be desperate to get Hazard back for their huge clash against Liverpool at Anfield in nine days’ time. The victor will stand a great chance of Premier League glory.
If the Blues get it, then does Hazard deserve the award?
Steven Gerrard
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As he captains his boyhood team toward potential Premier League title glory, Gerrard is almost bursting with pride.
The 33-year-old would virtually have given up hope of getting as close to the one trophy he’s never won whilst with Liverpool, but as the club’s midfield anchor and inspiration, he seems determined not to let standards slip.
Gerrard’s tally of 13 Premier League goals this season is the second-highest total he’s managed in his career. Memorable moments include his brace of penalties in the 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford and his unstoppable header from a Suarez corner as they defeated Everton 4-0 in the Merseyside derby.
The England captain has had to develop his game somewhat after being dropped into a defensive midfield role by his manager Brendan Rodgers in January. He has responded with a series of composed, intelligent displays which have helped to bring out the best in him and the younger talents around him.
Whether or not Gerrard is holding aloft the Premier League trophy for the first time in his career in mid-May remains to be seen, but perhaps he deserves some personal recognition for what has been a tremendous campaign.
He won this award in 2006, but is he a better player now?
Adam Lallana
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His first season in the Premier League was a fairly impressive one, but Lallana has stepped things up several notches during what has been a stellar campaign.
Southampton’s captain has grown from simply being a good Premier League player to someone who many now believe should be starting at the World Cup for England in the summer. His nine Premier League goals over the campaign have added to Southampton’s fantastic season which has seen them produce hugely entertaining football under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The 25-year-old midfielder is sure to attract a lot of attention in the summer regardless of what happens at the World Cup, and although the Saints would be loath to sell him to one of their Premier League rivals, they would certainly attract huge bids for him if they did.
Clever, stylish on the ball, capable of using both feet and possessing a good work rate, Lallana is a rare talent and the type of player that English academies have been trying to produce for years.
He’s seemingly quite grounded, too, but it will be interesting to see what happens should one of the traditional big boys of the English game come calling for his services in the summer.
That interest would only heighten should he surprisingly take this award.
Daniel Sturridge
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The highest-scoring Englishman in the Premier League this season with 20 goals, Sturridge has spent the entire campaign doing pretty much what his club Liverpool have been doing: proving people wrong.
The forward has made himself a must-pick for England at the World Cup, and if he is to go there as a Premier League champion, then his goals will have played a large part in firing his club there.
When Suarez was suspended for the opening matches of the season, Sturridge’s four goals in the first four games of the campaign got Liverpool off to the flying start that they have never really let slip. The Englishman has displayed that he does have a huge talent which failed to be spotted at his former club, Chelsea.
Striking up a lethal and at times telepathic partnership with Suarez, Sturridge has been key to one of the best front pairings the Premier League has ever seen, with 49 goals plundered between the pair.
The £12 million that Rodgers paid to take the forward from Chelsea in January 2013 looks like more and more of a bargain with every passing week. Aged just 24, Sturridge looks as though he’ll go on scoring goals for Liverpool for years to come.
After his prolific campaign, should he take the PFA honours?
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