da heads bet： Its that time of the year again, the player of the year awards are upon us.
da cassino： The usual bickering over ‘my team’s player should win’, ‘no, he shouldn’t, mine’s better’, is up and running and all the fans are ready to bemoan whatever decision is made.
There have been stand-out young players for so many Premier League clubs in this campaign.
Louis van Gaal has given several players first-team debuts, whilst Mauricio Pochettino has stuck by the youngsters in the run in despite the pressures of having to maintain a title challenge.
From Marcus Rashford to Kevin Wimmer, this has been a great season for the younger players in the Premier League and there have been very few young player of the year nomination lists as talented as this one.
As England prepare to for Euro 2016, three English youngsters feature on the shortlist after three stellar campaigns respectively.
Here we have it, Football FanCast brings you the list of young player of the year nominees..
Harry Kane
Many fans will be backing Harry Kane to win the main award, but, if beaten to the senior accolade, Kane is surely the favourite for the young player of the year.
His quality has been on show throughout the campaign and the Spurs talisman continues to break records for his club, having easily overcome the concerns over Spurs’ lack of a recognised backup striker.
Kane’s 24 Premier League goals this season put him in a prime position to win the golden boot and England will be praying that he doesn’t pick up a knock in the remaining games.
Dele Alli
Few teenagers have made as big an impact in their debut Premier League season as Dele Alli. Spurs’ sensation has played in a deeper midfield role and as a second striker off of Kane and the ex-MK Dons man looks ready to conquer the footballing world already.
His 10 goals and nine assists just show part of his brilliance. The comparisons with Ross Barkley continue to come out in favour of the Spurs man and it would be a travesty if Alli did not start for England in France this summer.
Philippe Coutinho
Although 15/16 hasn’t been Coutinho’s best season at Liverpool, the Brazilian has continued to provide plenty of jaw-dropping moments for the Anfield faithful.
The ex-Inter man has been in his element when he has been able to link-up with both Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana and the arrival of his fellow countryman has certainly given Coutinho extra freedom in the final third.
The most trigger happy of any of the nominated players, Coutinho is surely a rank outsider for the award, whilst Hector Bellerin may wonder why he didn’t receive a nomination ahead of the Liverpool man.
Romelu Lukaku
Lukaku, despite remaining in the shadow of Kane and Vardy, has found the net 18 times in the league this season and been one of the few positives in a dire season at Goodison Park.
The Belgian must be becoming increasingly frustrated with his team’s mediocrity and will surely be a target for several of Europe’s biggest clubs this summer.
Lukaku is often used like a human battering ram by the Toffees and has regularly cashed in when Everton have got on top of the opposition. His all-round game is yet to reach the levels of Harry Kane, but the powerful Belgian is a huge threat against any side that threatens to push up the field.
Ross Barkley
The topic of Ross Barkley is one of the great opinion dividers amongst Premier League fans.
The Everton man still shows the rawness of a youngster – particularly when out of possession – but he continues to produce flashes of brilliance that encourage the Paul Gascoigne comparisons.
3.3 dribbles per game is a high average for a midfielder player and Barkley certainly needs to work on his end product. Martinez has given the youngster the number 10 role for the majority of this campaign and he has benefited greatly from being able to drop deep and then run at the defence into the space between the lines.
His upper body strength makes him a fearsome competitor, but Barkley will be marked down by many for being a member of the crew on Martinez’s sinking Everton ship…
Jack Butland
Amid the excitement around the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri, very few people seemed to consider the pressure on Jack Butland going in to this season.
After the sale of Asmir Begovic, Butland was charged with replacing the popular Bosnian and he stepped up to Premier League standards with ease.
Keeping 10 clean sheets in 31 appearances – before a bad injury on England duty ended his campaign – Butland was one of the best keepers in the league.
With injuries blighting Ryan Shawcross’ season, Butland was often behind a makeshift Potters’ defence and his performances could yet prove influential as Hughes’ side push for European football.