We have heard all the arguments for why each nominee for who should be crowned the 2022 Fans' Footballer of the Year... but what about all the reasons they shouldn’t?
Form that was a flash in the pan, large chunks of the year missed and long barren spells have all affected our nominees.
That's without even delving into the debate as to whether you can compare a player in the Premier League with one in the Women's Super League.
We have gone through all nine players on the shortlist and picked holes in their claims for the prestigious award...
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Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne has turned it on for Manchester City this year, but how hard is it to shine in the best team in the Premier League? Called on to replicate his domestic form on the world stage, De Bruyne was found lacking as his Belgium team crashed out at the group stage. Can he really claim to be the best footballer of 2022 with zero goals and assists in Qatar?
Disagree? Vote for De Bruyne here.
Bruno Guimaraes
Guimaraes’ arrival at Newcastle has gone hand in hand with the Magpies’ magnificent rise up the Premier League table. The Brazilian has contributed eight goals and three assists to the cause, but he’s only started 23 Premier League games since swapping Lyon for the north east. By way of contrast, fellow nominee Harry Kane has started 39 in the same period for Tottenham. Brazil manager Tite picking Fred ahead of Guimaraes doesn’t exactly scream Footballer of the Year, either.
Disagree? Vote for Guimaraes here.
Erling Haaland
Haaland has scored 23 goals in just 18 games for Manchester City, including 18 in the Premier League... and there’s the major argument against Haaland winning the award. It has been just 18 games. This award is for Footballer of the Year. Haaland’s season in England has basically covered August to November. There was the Community Shield clash with Liverpool at the end of July, but the less said about that performance the better.
Disagree? Vote for Haaland here.
Harry Kane
Kane scored 25 goals and eight assists in 2022 but found himself outshone by team-mate and fellow nominee Son in the second half of 2021-22. And despite 12 goals in 15 Premier League appearances this season, his goalscoring exploits have been eclipsed by Haaland. Kane is closing in on Wayne Rooney ’s all-time goal record for England, but he can often look isolated. Despite netting against Senegal, he only has four goals from his 12 international appearances in 2022, and missed the chance to fill his boots against Iran.
James Maddison
Maddison finally forced his way into the England reckoning on the back of 23 goals and assists in 30 Premier League games in 2022. But that it took so long is surely a mark against the Leicester midfielder. After struggling to convince Gareth Southgate he is one of the best 26 players who can represent England, it’s a big leap to then elevate the Leicester City midfielder to the country’s Footballer of the Year. He has been denied a chance to prove himself on the world stage due to injury in Qatar, and it would take something special now to justify his selection.
Disagree? Vote for Maddison here.
Beth Mead
Mead won the Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot at the 2022 European Championships courtesy of six goals in six games. However, the Arsenal and England striker was second best for the Super League’s 2021-22 player of the season award, with a whopping 70 per cent of the vote going to Chelsea ’s Sam Kerr. This season, meanwhile, has been curtailed by an ACL injury.
Bukayo Saka
Saka is the boy you can take home to meet your parents or date your sister, according to the England camp. But this is a competition for the best footballer of the year; not the best boyfriend. And, while he has enjoyed a fine 2022, he hasn’t actually achieved anything when it comes to silverware. Arsenal have had no European football to contend with, while Saka started as the Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup to Nottingham Forest. And when a Champions League place was on the line at the tail-end of 2021-22, Saka went missing in the damaging defeats to Spurs and Newcastle.
Mohamed Salah
Salah returned from the Africa Cup of Nations a pale shadow of the player who departed on the back of 16 goals in 20 Premier League games. A return of seven goals in his remaining 15 League games in 2021-22 isn’t too bad on the face of it. However, throw in six successive Champions League blanks and a failure to score in the two FA Cup matches and the EFL Cup final, and it's clear he was nowhere near the standards he set in winning this trophy in both 2020 and 2021. While it may be unfair to base his chances on Egypt's lack of a World Cup spot, it is undeniably another reason to overlook the Liverpool forward.
Disagree? Vote for Salah here.
Heung-min Son
Son’s facial injury had the whole of South Korea sweating on the Tottenham forward’s fitness ahead of the World Cup. They needn’t have worried. Son provided just one assist in his four games as South Korea exited at the hands of a rampant Brazil. And for all Son’s fine form in the second half of the 2021-22 season, he has only scored once in 13 appearances for Tottenham this season - albeit a hat-trick against Fulham. His drop off in form even saw him left out of the starting line-up for that game - hardly befitting of a prospective footballer of the year.
Do you disagree with our take on the Fans' Footballer of the Year nominees? Use the form above to vote or click here, and have your say in the comments section below.
