Every year, the best player in the land is crowned by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA). That accolade is one of a number of awards handed out at the annual ceremony, with others including Young Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year and its women's equivalents. There is also a Team of the Year for each league.
Typically held before the end of the current season, this year's awards ceremony is breaking tradition by taking place in mid-August after the start of the following campaign – presumably to avoid clashing with players' well-earned summer breaks.
The PFA recently announced the nominees for this year's two main awards: the Players' Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year. Unsurprisingly, champions Manchester City dominate the nominees, with three players up for the main award.
Player
Club
Phil Foden
Man City
Erling Haaland
Man City
Martin Odegaard
Arsenal
Cole Palmer
Chelsea
Rodri
Man City
Ollie Watkins
Aston Villa
Only one can come away with the trophy, which was won by Erling Haaland last term. But that leaves plenty empty-handed, and some of English football's greats have never managed to be voted as the best player among their peers.
Here, we've taken a look at 11 players who perhaps deserved to win the award at some point in their careers, focusing on their best spells in the Premier League where they may have been overlooked.
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ByLuke Randall 11 Nemanja Vidic Manchester United
A stalwart of the Manchester United teams that – until last season – recorded the joint-longest run of consecutive Premier League titles, Nemanja Vidic is certainly worthy of a place in the annals of English football.
He struck up a fine partnership with Rio Ferdinand in the Red Devils backline in one of their most dominant eras, though he was somewhat upstaged by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, who both took the PFA award at the height of Vidic's successes.
The Serbian was at least named the Premier League's Player of the Season in 2009 and 2011, though it seems his fellow players didn't see him in quite the same light.
10 Robert Pires Arsenal
One of Arsene Wenger's most defining signings at Arsenal, Robert Pires was an integral part of their dominance in the early 2000s, which garnered two league titles and three FA Cups.
The 2001/02 season was perhaps the Frenchman's finest campaign, as despite being struck by injury, which saw him miss the subsequent World Cup, Pires was a vital part of the Gunners' double-winning side, with the team bowing down to him as he held the Premier League title aloft at Highbury.
However, it was Ruud van Nistelrooy who won the players' accolade that season following a dazzling first campaign at Manchester United. Perhaps with a full season under his belt, Pires could have given the Dutch striker a run for his money.
9 Peter Schmeichel Manchester United
Goalkeepers often end up underappreciated, so it is no surprise that Pat Jennings and Peter Shilton are the only 'keepers to receive the PFA Player of the Year award – the last of those coming in 1978.
However, it is difficult to envisage Manchester United's near-monopoly on the Premier League without Peter Schmeichel's performances. Unfortunately for the Dane, he was often behind Eric Cantona or Ryan Giggs in terms of being the best United player, never mind in all of English football.
There are only a few goalies who could come close to emulating Schmeichel's stature – Petr Cech may even feel hard done by that he was never recognised in this way – and it does feel unjust that Schmeichel was often overlooked when it came to individual gongs.
8 Andy Cole Newcastle United & Manchester United
Andy Cole was a goal machine, and his record of 34 goals in a Premier League season (albeit in a 42-game campaign) was only recently overtaken by Erling Haaland.
Despite this, Cole's superb haul in 1993/94 for Newcastle United was overshadowed by Eric Cantona following his switch to Old Trafford. Cole surely would have been a shoo-in any other year, or indeed if he had been part of a title-winning side at St James' Park.
Unfortunately, the Magpies were 15 points off the pace and Cole never reached those heights again, as even during his stint as the star striker at Old Trafford, he was never quite seen as the top dog.
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ByLuke Randall 7 Michael Owen Liverpool
There was certainly a time when Michael Owen was one of the hottest properties on the planet – he did win the 2001 Ballon d'Or, after all.
Only three times did the PFA Players' Player of the Year award not go to a league winner during his seven full seasons at Liverpool, after which injuries had taken away his pace and elite goalscoring touch.
That's not to say he never deserved such recognition at Liverpool, and he was named as the Premier League's best player as an 18-year-old in 1997/98 – the same year he took home the Young Player award.
6 Sadio Mane Liverpool
There's no doubting Sadio Mane's quality as a Premier League great, and his time at Liverpool brought about a ton of goals, with the trophies to match.
Scoring 120 goals for the Reds alone (he also grabbed 25 in 75 appearances for Southampton), Mane's finest hours at Anfield came as part of an infamous attacking trio alongside Roberto Firmino and two-time PFA Players' Player of the Year Mohamed Salah.
Salah's achievements perhaps prevented Mane from standing out on his own, though he did rank above the Egyptian in the final rankings of the 2022 Ballon d'Or.
5 David Silva Manchester City
David Silva lit up the Premier League for a decade during a trophy-laden spell at Manchester City. While he was never among the top scorers, he was often creator-in-chief at the Etihad Stadium, notching 93 assists across ten seasons.
He was the lead assist-maker in 2011/12 when City were crowned champions for the first time, while he would add three more titles before returning to Spain in 2020.
Perhaps another victim of being surrounded by too much greatness for his talent to get the recognition it deserved, there can be few players more defining than Silva when it came to installing City's place among England's elite sides.
4 Yaya Toure Manchester City
Yaya Toure joined Manchester City in the same summer as Silva, and while his stay wasn't as long (in fact, it fizzled out following Pep Guardiola's arrival), there was a period when the Ivorian was completely unplayable.
2013/14 saw City tussle with Liverpool for the Premier League title, and with 20 goals from midfield, there were few better players in the division than Toure. His sheer power and clinical finishing were on show all season, and while the campaign ended with team silverware, he was not handed the individual awards he surely deserved.
Luis Suarez was the recipient of the main prizes as he grabbed a then-record 31 goals for runners-up Liverpool, but overlooking Toure was surely a mistake.
3 Sergio Aguero Manchester City
Given Manchester City's dominance in the 2010s, it is perhaps a surprise that Sergio Aguero was never a Players' Player award-winner.
As we have seen with plenty of the players on this list, timing can be a huge downfall when it comes to individual award aspirations, and unfortunately for the Argentinian, his sole Golden Boot campaign came in 2014/15, when Eden Hazard and co. hauled Chelsea to the Premier League title.
Aguero hit 20-plus for five successive league seasons, but arguably didn't ever do quite enough to be considered the best in the land. However, for a player of his quality, it's a shame things never went his way as far as the PFA award is concerned.
2 Harry Kane Tottenham Hotspur
We had to double-check this one ourselves, but no – Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur's record goalscorer, England captain and (some would say) media darling, was never voted as the best player by his peers.
Kane grabbed three Golden Boots during his time at Spurs – albeit the first during Leicester's title-winning season – but always had someone in his way, whether it was N'Golo Kante in 2016/17 or Kevin De Bruyne in 2020/21.
It seems unusual that someone can have such an effect on their club without gaining the main players' award – you could easily argue Kane was just as influential as double POTY winner Gareth Bale at Spurs, if not more, especially considering their brief flirtations with the title.
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