SOCCER PFA NOMINATIONS:ROBIN VAN PERSIE is the favourite to be named the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year after the union announced their six-man shortlist.
The winner will be revealed at a dinner on Sunday night when Manchester City’s Joe Hart, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Tottenham Hotspur’s Scott Parker will provide the competition for Arsenal’s Dutch striker.
While few neutrals would argue with Van Persie’s inclusion on the list, eyebrows may be raised at Champions League contenders Newcastle United where Tim Krul, Fabricio Coloccini and Demba Ba have all excelled.
Arsenal’s recent renaissance would surely have been impossible without Van Persie’s 34 goals this season and Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, believes that, at the age of 28, a forward previously hindered by injuries is finally fulfilling his potential.
“He’s been amazing,” said Taylor. “You think of Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marco van Basten and he is in that mould of absolutely top class strikers that Holland, quite phenomenally, manages to produce.
“You could pick half a dozen of his goals out for goal of the season. Arsenal were struggling for some time but he was a real talisman. He seems to have lifted the team and got them back believing in themselves again.”
Aguero, also nominated for young player of the year, has scored 28 times for City since arriving in a club record transfer last summer, Hart is England’s clear first-choice goalkeeper and Silva, whose form endured a mid-season dip, began the campaign in scintillating fashion.
“Silva is like Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas,” said Taylor. “He’s a playmaker, a magician – I think some of his team-mates call him Merlin. He’s a delight to watch and makes the team tick.
“It perhaps shows the competitiveness of our game that he has not been able to maintain it throughout a full season, but when he is at his best and at his sharpest, I don’t think there’s a better playmaker in the world.”
Having described Hart as “one of the finest goalkeepers around” Taylor suggested that English football should feel fortunate to be Aguero’s habitat: “I think Manchester City should work hard to keep him because he’s a joy to watch.”
Like City, Tottenham’s season has not quite followed the seamless upward trajectory many predicted last autumn but England’s Parker, the current Football Writers’ Association footballer of the year, has been integral to much of their best work in midfield since joining Harry Redknapp’s side from relegated West Ham United last summer.
“I have great admiration for Scott Parker,” said Taylor. “He’s relatively small in stature for the role but he has the work-rate, the courage and the bravery – he puts his body in there and tackles. He’s been a great buy.”
The PFA’s long-standing leader emphasised that Rooney should not be judged on merely his 32 goals for United but, the odd blip apart, a growing maturity and overall contribution to Alex Ferguson’s league leaders.
It is heartening to see Tottenham’s impressive, if often underrated, right-back Kyle Walker among the nominations for young player of the year which, in addition to Aguero, also feature Walker’s team-mate Gareth Bale, Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge and Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck.
Sunderland’s exciting left winger James McClean would surely have made the shortlist had he made his first-team debut before December.
Guardian Service
PFA Nominees:Players' Player of the Year – Sergio Aguero (Man City), Joe Hart (Man City), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), David Silva (Man City). Young Player of the Year – Sergio Aguero (Man City), Gareth Bale (Tottenham), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Danny Welbeck (Man Utd).
