A number of Manchester United supporters have been left stunned after Cristiano Ronaldo was left off the list of nominees for the Premier League Player of the Season award.
The Portuguese international, who returned to Old Trafford from Juventus last summer, has scored 24 goals in all competitions this season, including 18 in the Premier League. He has been a shining light in what has been a bitterly disappointing campaign for the club.
Ronaldo, more often than not, has stepped up when United have needed someone to take a game by the scruff of the neck or inject a moment of brilliance this term. He scored hat-tricks against both Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City to secure 3-2 wins when United would have otherwise failed.
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His performances and contributions have not gone unnoticed throughout the season either. He has won the Premier League's Player of the Month award on two occasions, scooping the gong for both September and April.
However, that has not been enough to see him make the eight-man shortlist for the Player of the Season accolade. His exclusion, unsurprisingly, has meant that no United player has been put in the running.
The award, instead, will be contested by Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, Liverpool duo Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, Manchester City stars Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne, Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse, Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United star Jarrod Bowen. Ronaldo has scored more goals this season than all but two names on that, with only Salah and Son netting more in the Premier League.
Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo's absence from the list of nominees has sparked an angry reaction amongst United's supporters, who are perplexed by the Premier League's decision to oust him from the running. They have pointed out his two Player of the Month awards and believe he should be on the list instead of Saka and Ward-Prowse, despite both of them enjoying fruitful campaigns of their own.
Below, MEN Sport has taken a close look at what they have had to say.
As you can see from the messages displayed in the tweets above, United's supporters are less than impressed that Ronaldo, at least, has not been nominated for the award. Whilst the players that have made the cut have enjoyed excellent campaigns in their own right, Ronaldo has directly contributed to 21 goals in the league this season, meaning it is justifiably questionable.
As outlined above, only Salah and Son have scored more than him this season, too. Of the other players nominated, De Bruyne is Ronaldo's nearest challenger in terms of goals scored, netting 15 this term.
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