Manchester City Fan View: Rightly rewarded by PFA but individual awards are irrelevant

When the PFA Premier League Team of the Year was announced on Wednesday, Champions Manchester City were predictably well represented. Five of Pep Guardiola’s squad were selected, including the first ever appearance in the team for Sergio Agüero. It seems ludicrous that it’s taken seven seasons for the Argentine to be recognised in this way, but after a brilliant season in which he became City’s all time leading goalscorer, it was a well-earned acknowledgement of his brilliance.

On Sunday, the main awards will be announced. The Blues are heavily nominated in these categories too. Three of the six nominations for Player of the Year ply their trade at the Etihad. City also have three nominations for Young Player of the Year; Leroy Sané is in both categories. It would be nice if our boys were to pick up one or two of these awards. But here’s the thing – it actually doesn’t matter.

As Sunday approaches, and in the days after, supporters will argue the merits of their players and why they should be better recognised. The main award would appear to be a straight fight between two players – City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah.

There are strong arguments for both. De Bruyne has been exceptional – the driving force behind a side that could now be argued to be the best team to ever play league football in England. Salah has broken scoring records and has been an absolute joy to watch. Whoever wins the award will be worthy of it, and whoever loses out will still have had an extraordinary season, their light not dimmed by the brightness of the other.

Pointless

This, in part, is why these awards are pointless. There is prestige attached to these accolades and personal recognition is always a nice thing to get, but there is one thing that ultimately makes it futile; Football is a team sport and individual awards strip away that very notion.

There is no way to effectively weight the contribution of players in different positions, or in different teams. Who’s to say that a player scoring 30 goals on the way to the title is more worthy of a individual award than a brilliant defender in a relegation battle?

It’s worth remembering that the awards are voted for by Premier League players. These guys play among their opponents week in, week out and are well placed to pass judgement. The awards are usually fair.

There is no issue with how fair the accolades are. It’s just that the awards should not exist at all. In a team sport, the collective is the important thing. Each individual is only important in the context of the contribution to their team. At the end of the season, the league table accurately reflects the quality of every single team in the league.

I could argue all day for De Bruyne to be named Player of the Year. But ultimately, it just does not matter. Manchester City are the Champions of England. In this context, that is the only thing that matters.