Plotting Who Leads the Player of the Season Race in Europe's 5 Biggest Leagues
It’s the business end of the season. We know that because the TV montages are getting longer and the stakes are getting higher.
It is time for the big players in the big leagues to step up and deliver for their teams, but just who are those big players? Who have been the standout individual performers in each of the top five European leagues in 2014/15?
Step this way to find out.
Premier League: Cesc Fabregas
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Other leading contenders: Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane, David De Gea, Nemanja Matic.
Why Fabregas?
The leading contender with the bookmakers for the PFA Player of the Year award according to Oddschecker, the Spaniard has had a stellar first campaign with a Chelsea side that looks increasingly likely to take the Premier League honours.
His remarkable 15 assists in league combat alone is already more than the top providers in each of the last two seasons (Steven Gerrard with 13 in 2013/14 and Juan Mata with 12 in 2012/13) and level with 2011/12’s top assist-maker David Silva—all stats to date and via ESPN.
But what has been even more remarkable about Fabregas has been the complete comfort he seems to exude back in English football.
Not for him the much-debated “settling in period” that we often heard about whenever a new signing comes in from abroad. Chelsea knew what they were getting because of the midfielder’s time at Arsenal, and as such they were prepared to pay top dollar to bring him in.
Playing in a team alongside the likes of Nemanja Matic, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa helps of course, but in the short space of time that Fabregas has been at Stamford Bridge, he has become the team’s reference point in midfield; a midfield which looks like anchoring their side to the league title in May.
La Liga: Cristiano Ronaldo
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Other leading contender: Lionel Messi
Why Ronaldo?
Of course Spain's La Liga has many more great players than just Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but there is little doubt that when it comes to handing out the awards in the country, then those two certainly rule the roost.
Since the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) established its awards in the 2008/09 season, Messi has carried off the player-of-the-year gong five times, with Ronaldo claiming the glory last season.
This time around, the Argentinian ace has 34 goals in 35 games for club and country this season, while the Portuguese scoring phenomenon has 38 in 34.
It's Ronaldo on points at the moment, then, but this battle could really go either way.
Serie A: Carlos Tevez
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Other leading contenders: Paul Pogba, Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Jeremy Menez, Antonio Candreva.
Why Tevez?
Places on top of both the top goalscorers' and top assist-makers' charts indicate that you are having a pretty good season, and Carlos Tevez finds himself at the summit of both following what has been a stellar campaign for Juventus.
The Argentinian has scored 14 goals and made seven others to stand out as a shining light in the division, which seems suited to his all-around game in a way that the Premier League never quite was.
Playing in Italy also seems to have reawakened Tevez's love for football, he's leaner and fitter and looks ready to take on the world now he's back in his national-team setup.
He's certainly ready to take on the whole of Italy anyway, and right now he's winning.
Bundesliga: Manuel Neuer
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Other leading contenders: Kevin De Bruyne, Alexander Meier, Arjen Robben, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Why Neuer?
Bayern Munich have conceded only nine goals in their 20 Bundesliga games this season, a tally which stood at just four before their last three fixtures.
That is staggering stuff by anyone's calculations, and it helps when they can call upon probably the world's best goalkeeper as their last line of defence should the line in front of him be breached.
Manuel Neuer might have missed out on the Ballon d'Or in 2014, but the Germany international stopper looks on course for plenty of awards in what is sure to be a long and successful career, and one in which he's going to be the envy of many another top stopper.
Ligue 1: Alexandre Lacazette
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Other leading contenders: Andre-Pierre Gignac, Dimitri Payet, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti.
Why Lacazette?
Zlatan will have to forgive us, but given that his injuries this season have contributed to him scoring less than half of the goals managed by the top marksman in Ligue 1, the Swedish superstar is going to have to remain on the sidelines for this one.
That top goalscorer is Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette, who with 21 strikes has seven more than his nearest competitor Andre-Pierre Gignac, whose Marseille team started the season so well but have now dropped off a little.
Lacazette and Lyon lead the division at the moment, and although it will take a monumental effort for them to hold off the spending power of Zlatan's PSG and actually claim the title, their forward might have already done enough to claim personal honours.
