Not one Arsenal player made the final XI for the best team of 2016 of FIFPro, which is voted for by all the professional footballers in the world. In fact there was not one player currently playing in the English Premier League included in the Team of the Year, but there were quite a few who made the shortlist.
There were 55 players on that shortlist so it may not sound all that impressive that three of them were Arsenal stars, but that number does look better when you compare it with our Premier League rivals, especially when you consider how much more money the likes of Manchester United and Man City have been throwing around to build their squads.
Man City do have one more player than Arsenal on the list, with their new keeper Claudio Bravo joining Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. The three Gunners to make the cut were Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Hector Bellerin, confirming the young Spanish right back’s rise to the upper echelons of the footballing world.
Both Man United and Chelsea also have three, with Pogba, De Gea and Ibrahimovic making it for the Red Devils and Hazard, Kante and David Luiz for the Blues. Not a single player from Liverpool or Tottenham made the shortlist, but will Arsenal’s extra quality tell at the end of the current season?
Bob.