Premier League’s Player Of The Season Snub To Ronaldo Upsets Rio Ferdinand

Former English professional footballer Rio Ferdinand has labeled the nominations for this year's Premier League Player Of The Season "laughable" as Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo was not included in the list.

The Premier League officially announced its eight-man shortlist for their Player of the Season award. However, Man Utd forward Ronaldo was not included, despite his exceptional goal score of 18 goals and providing three assists in the league this season. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrod Bowen, Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min, James Ward-Prowse and Bukayo Saka have all been nominated for the award.

After the list was revealed, Ferdinand questioned the nominees for the Premier League's Player of the Season award. He claimed it to be "laughable" that Bukayo Saka, who found the back of the net 11 times and produced six assists in the same competition, has been nominated. "Saka's in the in the Player of the Year nominees?" he said on the "Vibe with Five" podcast. "I wouldn't have had Saka in there yet, as well as he's done. I wouldn't have had him over Ronaldo, no, not this season. Ronaldo should be in ahead of three of four of those guys in there."

"'He probably doesn't win it but in terms of nominees, it's laughable. He'll take it as a disrespect but these are the things that fuel him, he'll be thinking, 'how dare you?' If it's based on stats, he's like, 'I've banged in more goals than most of them on that list other than Salah, so what are you talking about?'" Man Utd suffered from an incompetent season which has resulted in them failing to qualify for the Champions League; however, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has still maintained an outstanding performance.

According to the Premier League's website, Saka has "led the charge for an Arsenal team chasing a top-four finish for the first time since 2015-16" and "shown great character to bounce back after missing the deciding penalty in the Euro 2020 final."

The Premier League also revealed its five candidates for their Manager of the Season award. Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, Newcastle's Eddie Howe, Brentford's Thomas Frank and Crystal Palace's Patrick Vieira are all shortlisted.

The nominees for the Young Player of the Season are also out and includes Alexander-Arnold, Saka, Phil Foden, Conor Gallagher, Tyrick Mitchell, Mason Mount, Aaron Ramsdale and Declan Rice. The voting for all three awards has now concluded and the winners are expected to be revealed after Sunday's final round of fixtures.