Why Paul Pogba deserves to be in the PFA Team of the Year

Paul Pogba in the 2019 PFA team of the year? The £89m man who has valiantly helped his side to the heady heights of sixth in the league this season? The Frenchman who fell out so spectacularly with Jose Mourinho, the manager who signed him for Manchester United, that he was stripped of the captaincy and given at least one dressing-down in full glare of the public? Who voted for him? Do they even play the game?

Well, yes. Pogba was voted in by the members of the Professional Footballers’ Association – who you would think know a little about the game, even though the vast majority will have seen as much of Pogba as punters in the street (the ones with the full Sky Sports subscriptions, anyway).

And he deserves to dilute by one the Manchester City-Liverpool hegemony in this season’s team of the year. He is the highest scoring midfielder, with 13 goals and is ranked sixth in assists.
Incidentally, for those who argue that seven of Pogba’s goals were from the penalty spot, try telling World Cup golden boot winner Harry Kane that they don’t count.

Form at the right time

There is another reason, apart from bald statistics that Pogba has been included, at the expense of arguably more deserving candidates: he was really, really good in the weeks leading up to mid-February, when the votes were cast.

Just as Kevin De Bruyne missed out on the Player of the Year award to Mohamed Salah last year, despite some phenomenal early-season form and also helping Manchester City to the title, Pogba’s purple patch came at an opportune time: voting season.

Should we wail at this, jump on social media demanding this should not stand, demand a recount or shout at the nearest United fan (if the last one is an attractive option, there are regular trains south from London Waterloo)? Of course not. Pogba’s inclusion is not an injustice – it is merely a symptom of the timing of when players cast their votes.

Do others really deserve it instead?

There are sound reasons for other players to be included, such as Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, who has done so much to carry his side to the brink of a top-four place that his shoulders are probably as calloused as an oil-driller’s fingers. Then there is Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser, who is joint-second on the list of assists with Christian Eriksen (and one behind Hazard). But it is no coincidence that Bournemouth only won four games between December and March – and only one of those was against a top-six side, Chelsea. Similarly, Hazard’s side had distinctly patchy form at the turn of the year when, whatever the question, Sarri-ball was not the answer.

The list of deserving candidates goes on: Everton’s Idrissa Gueye, the league’s leading tackler, whose side may yet finish in a European position; Son Heung-min of Tottenham, whose workrate and goals made Spurs fans almost forget the two periods when their talisman Harry Kane was out injured.

But for whatever reason they didn’t make it. It was all down to players’ opinions in February. Ones which we are all completely free to disagree with.