10 players ROBBED of the PFA Player of the Year award!

Players ROBBED of the PFA Player of the Year award!

The PFA Player of the Year is meant to be football’s ultimate peer endorsement a verdict from those who know the game best.

Yet its history is littered with baffling decisions, split votes, and positional bias that have left some of the sport’s greatest names empty-handed. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

10 Players Who Were Robbed of the PFA Player of the Year Award (And Never Won It)

Here are 10 players who were completely robbed of getting a PFA Player of the Year award. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

10) David Silva – Manchester City

David Silva was the heartbeat of Manchester City’s greatest era. The Spanish magician orchestrated attacks with a grace and intelligence that few could match.

He won five Premier League titles and was the creative engine behind City’s dominance.

Yet Silva never won the PFA Player of the Year. Like so many of his City teammates, he was a victim of the voting split and the league’s tendency to favour more explosive, goal-scoring talents over the quiet architects of beautiful football. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

9) Sergio Aguero – Manchester City

Sergio Agüero scored 184 Premier League goals for Manchester City, won five league titles, and delivered one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history with his last-minute title winner in 2012. Yet he never won the PFA Player of the Year.

Despite being one of the most lethal strikers the league has ever seen, Agüero was consistently overlooked in favour of midfielders and forwards from title-winning rivals.

His consistency and big-game pedigree should have earned him at least one gong. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

8) Paul Scholes – Manchester United

Paul Scholes spent 19 seasons at Manchester United, winning 11 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.

He was lauded by peers like Zinedine Zidane and Xavi as the best midfielder of his generation. Yet he never won the PFA Player of the Year.

Remarkably, Scholes was never even voted into the PFA Team of the Year by the very players he was running games against.

It remains one of football’s great mysteries how a player so universally admired by his contemporaries never received their highest individual honour.

The quiet man from Salford simply didn’t court the spotlight and perhaps that cost him the recognition his talent deserved. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

7) David Beckham – Manchester United

David Beckham’s celebrity status often overshadowed his footballing brilliance, but in the treble season of 1999, he was unplayable.

Coming back from his infamous red card at the 1998 World Cup, Beckham produced probably his best single-season performance, delivering astonishing crosses and dead-ball deliveries that few have matched before or since.

Beckham won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1996-97 and finished second in the voting for the senior award that same year.

But the top prize like for so many of his United teammates remained out of reach. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

6) Neville Southall – Everton

 

Only two goalkeepers have ever won the PFA Player of the Year—Pat Jennings in 1976 and Peter Shilton in 1978. Neville Southall should have been the third.

In Everton’s title-winning season of 1984-85, Southall was widely regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the world.

He was voted Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 1985, but his peers never once voted him as the leading player.

Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe said: “When you’ve got a keeper like that in your team you can gain an extra fourteen points”. Yet that wasn’t enough to overcome the bias against shot-stoppers.

5) Peter Schmeichel – Manchester United

 

Between 1991 and 1999, Peter Schmeichel revolutionised goalkeeping. His consistency, command of the box, and shot-stopping were unlike anything seen before.

Sir Alex Ferguson called his £500,000 price tag “the bargain of the century”.

Yet despite maintaining the highest standards throughout his United career, Schmeichel never received PFA recognition.

He only made the PFA Team of the Year once a baffling statistic for a player considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper to have ever played the game. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

4) Didier Drogba – Chelsea

Didier Drogba was the Premier League’s ultimate big-game striker, yet the PFA trophy painfully eluded him.

In 2006-07, he scored 33 goals and won the FA Cup, but lost to Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2009-10, he fired Chelsea to the double with 29 league goals a campaign that screamed “winner” only to be pipped by Wayne Rooney.

While he claimed two Premier League Golden Boots, the PFA crown remained an unforgivable blind spot for a forward who terrorised defences like few others. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

3) Yaya Toure – Manchester City

In 2014, Yaya Touré became only the second midfielder in Premier League history to score 20 goals in a single season.

He was the driving force behind Manchester City’s title triumph, a midfield colossus who combined defensive steel with devastating attacking output.

Yet he finished third in the PFA voting behind Luis Suárez. His former teammate Micah Richards said: “Yaya should have won it 100 per cent”.

Touré himself was openly disappointed at missing out. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

 

2) Frank Lampard – Chelsea

Frank Lampard is one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history. He scored over 200 goals from midfield, won three league titles, and was the model of consistency for over a decade.

Yet he never won the PFA Player of the Year. It remains “a massive surprise that Frank Lampard was never crowned PFA Player of the Year”.

Thierry Henry, a two-time winner himself, was shocked that Lampard never claimed the prize. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year on five separate occasions, but the top prize always eluded him. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

1) Steven Gerrad – Liverpool

When Ryan Giggs won the PFA Player of the Year in 2009, the football world did a double-take. The Welsh winger had started just 12 Premier League games all season.

Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard was producing arguably the finest football of his career, dragging Liverpool towards a title challenge with 13 goals from 26 league starts.

Former Liverpool captain John Barnes didn’t mince words: “I was surprised to see that Ryan Giggs had won the Player of the Year award”.

Gerrard’s teammate Pepe Reina was even more blunt: “When it got out that Ryan Giggs had been given Player of the Year by the PFA, well it was fair because he’s played for a long time, but for me Stevie was the one”.

The award felt like a lifetime achievement nod rather than recognition of the season’s best performer. Watch & Bet Live Here =>

Who are the nominees for the PFA Player of the Year Award in 2026?

PFA Player of the Year 2026 Nominees. The six nominees for the 2026 men’s PFA Player of the Year award are:

Declan Rice (Arsenal)

Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal)

David Raya (Arsenal)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

Rayan Cherki (Manchester City)

The winner is set to be announced at the PFA Awards in Manchester tonight.

Arsenal’s trio are recognised for their roles in the club’s Premier League title-winning campaign, while Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League assist record with 21.