It’s not the first time Son Heung-min has been overlooked for an individual award after a strong performance.
The English Premier League (EPL) announced the eight nominees for the 2023-2024 season’s Player of the Year award on its official website on Monday (KST).
Son Heung-min’s name was nowhere to be found among the eight nominees. Even with his recent struggles, it’s hard not to be disappointed by his omission. Son has 17 goals and nine assists this season, giving him 26 offensive points in the league alone.
Only Ollie Watkins, Elling Holland, Cole Palmer, and Mohamed Salah have more offensive points than Son. While the number of attacking points isn’t the only way to measure a player’s performance, Son has always been the most reliable player for Tottenham, with the exception of the end of the season.
His season has been consistent throughout, with one Player of the Month award and two other Player of the Season honors. Other players who have been nominated for the award include Alexander Isaac, Phil Foden, and Martin Ødegaard.
Isaac shouldn’t have been considered for the award because he plays for Tottenham, who are fifth in the league. Newcastle, despite their excellent second half of the season, are in sixth place in the league, below Tottenham.
Son Heung-min has been overlooked despite being one of the best performers under new manager Enze Postecoglou in the absence of Harry Kane. The reason for this is likely down to his late-season form. Salah, who was a monster in the first half of the season, also struggled in the second half, and his 18 goals and 10 assists didn’t make the cut.
The selection of the nominees is disappointing in many ways. Right now, the consensus is that Rodri should have been nominated over Foden or Holland. Foden doesn”t have a lot of attacking points, and Holland has been a bit of a disappointment in all aspects of his game compared to last season. Rodriguez, on the other hand, has been a key midfielder for City this season and has proven himself to be one of the best 바카라사이트 midfielders in the world.
In fact, something similar happened two years ago. In the 2021-2022 season, Son Heung-min scored 23 goals and provided seven assists in the EPL alone. He was the league”s top scorer alongside Salah. Two years ago, only Salah had more offensive points than Son. His performances in the second half of the season dominated the EPL.
However, he didn’t even make the shortlist for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year. The league’s top scorer, Son’s omission sparked outrage. Spurs Web, a Tottenham news outlet at the time, reacted in disbelief, saying: ‘This is a truly baffling decision, given that Son has been consistent all season and has scored over 20 goals without conceding a penalty, which is a huge feat in itself.
The players nominated in place of Son were Virgil van Dijk, Harry Kane, Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Salah, and Kevin De Bruyne. While everyone agreed that Van Dijk, De Bruyne, and Salah deserved to be nominated for Player of the Year, opinions were divided on whether Mane and Ronaldo were outstanding enough to be considered.
In the 2021-2022 season, Ronaldo had 18 goals and three assists in the league, while Mane had 16 goals and two assists. Both players were nominated for Player of the Year over Son Heung-min, despite the latter’s overwhelming advantage over the former simply by comparing offensive points. What was even more shocking was that Son’s name wasn’t on the PFA Team of the Year. Instead, Salah, Ronaldo, and Mane were the only other attacking players on the PFA Team of the Year.
It’s unclear why Son was left out, but it adds to the growing criticism that individual awards like Player of the Year and Team of the Year seem to follow the popularity of the player.