Two Man City Players nominated for Player of the Year
De Bruyne and Sterling shortlisted for prestigious award
Table of Contents
The Sweet Six
Man City star’s Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling have been nominated in the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year Award.
This year’s list includes only players from Manchester City and reigning EPL Champions Liverpool.
Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mané, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Virgil Van Dijk are the other nominees.
Why Sterling should win?
In 2018-19 Sterling won the PFA Young Player of the Year and the Footballer of the Year according to the Football Writers’ Association (PWA).
This season the 25-year-old was even better with 20 goals in the Premier League, his greatest tally to date.
In a season with so much expectation the Blues winger did not disappoint scoring early and often.
It wasn’t just his goal scoring record though that was impressive but it was how timely they were.
He was in the right place at the right time and scored big goals when they needed him.
His biggest was perhaps on August 7 in a 2-1 win over Real Madrid reaching the 100 goal mark for the club in all competitions.
He’s the first Englishman to reach that mark since Denis Tueart did it for the Blues back in 1981.
Why De Bruyne should win?
In a season that saw City trailing Liverpool virtually from the outset one player who was never behind was Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian international was simply breathtaking individually in a season where City were often second best.
His fifth season with the club may have been his best.
He scored 13 goals in the Premier League, 20 assists, and 104 chances created, the most for any player in Europe’s top five leagues since 2006.
On February 26, 2020 De Bruyne scored his 50th City goal in a 2-1 upset win over Real Madrid.
The Blues number 17 is the first player in history to notch 20 assists in a single season in two of Europe’s top five leagues.
With that kind of resume it’s no surprise that De Bruyne was named the Premier League Player of the Season.
Chasing History
In the past decade Man City have won four Premier League titles, but they’ve never won this prestigious award.
There’s been a City player on the shortlist every year since 2017 but they’ve always fallen just short.
This is De Bruyne’s third straight nomination.
Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk hopes to keep the Blues drought going and join elite company as well.
Last year’s PFA Player of the Year is aiming for back-back wins in this category.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the last player to achieve that feat in 2007 and 2008.(JSL)
