PFA Awards 2016: Player of the Year and Young Player Nominee Lists Revealed

Leicester City trio Jamie Vardy, N'Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez have all been named on the six-man shortlist for the 2016 PFA Player of the Year award.

They are joined by West Ham United's Dimitri Payet, Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane and Arsenal's Mesut Ozil, while the English striker is also up for the Young Player of the Year award, as announced by the PFA on Wednesday:

Tottenham's Dele Alli, Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland, Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho and Everton duo Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley are also nominated for the Young Player award, with both gongs set to be presented in London on April 24.  

Kante, Vardy and Mahrez have all been crucial to Leicester's extraordinary rise from relegation battlers to Premier League title favourites.

The English striker is the first Foxes player since Gary Lineker to net 20 goals or more in an English top flight season, per BBC's Match of the Day.

Meanwhile, central midfielder Kante was recently hailed as the division's best player "by a long way" by 13-time Premier League winner Sir Alex Ferguson, per Jonathan Northcroft in the Sunday Times.

Perhaps most impressively, though, winger Mahrez has contributed to 27 Premier League goals this season, netting 16 times and providing 11 assists, per WhoScored.com.

Bleacher Report's Dean Jones and Sam Tighe tipped Mahrez for the award when predicting the shortlist:

Only Kane (22), Vardy (21), Lukaku (18) and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero (18) have scored more than the Algerian, while his assists tally is eclipsed only by Ozil's 18, per WhoScored.

Indeed, Ozil looked to be running away with all the individual gongs for this season when he set up 16 goals in the Premier League before the turn of the year, but his loss of form in 2016 has directly corresponded to Arsenal dropping out of the title race.

Payet has been fairly consistent throughout the season—although he missed a large chunk through injury—and has propelled the Hammers to within touching distance of the Champions League.

For many, including talkSPORT's Ian Abrahams, the Frenchman's individual brilliance this season makes him deserving of the PFA award:

The absence of any Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea players in either shortlist is indicative of just how unpredictable a season 2015-16 has been in the Premier League.

Leicester and Spurs have been the outstanding teams and centre-back Toby Alderweireld was arguably deserving of a place on the shortlist, per the Times' Henry Winter:

There was also no place for Eric Dier in the Young Player category, but given the quality of each of the contenders in the respective lists, there are no glaring omissions this year.