The good news for the Arsenal and Germany international star Mesut Ozil is that he has been included in the shortlist of players that are nominated for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, as reported by the BBC. The other EPL stars on the list are the Leicester City trio Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kante, the West Ham midfielder Dimitri Payet and the Tottenham and England striker Harry Kane.
The bad news for our attacking midfield maestro is that he is very unlikely to win the award. Even though the name of the award tells you that it is voted for by his fellow professionals, and with them his stock is very high as they can really appreciate what a special talent Ozil has, the likelihood is that the success or otherwise of a team has a big influence on individual awards.
So the fact that Arsenal have blown a great chance to win the Premier League and a great position at the turn of the year will almost certainly count against our assist master despite the fact that his own performances have been consistently good when all around him were losing their heads and their form.
The second award that Ozil looks like missing out on is the Premier League assist record of Arsenal’s own Thierry Henry. That would already have been broken by our number 11 weeks ago if the likes of Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez had not been so profligate in front of goal.
Ozil raced to 16 EPL assists but despite creating more chances than any other player his tally has only crept up to 18 and he needs three more to claim the record with just six games left to play. So will the Arsenal players cost Ozil both or just one of these prizes this season? Or if he gets the three more assists and breaks the record, might Ozil then get the PFA award as well?