Son Heung-Min's omission from the PFA's Premier League Team of the Year has left Curtis Davies stunned, with the Derby defender claiming a Cristiano Ronaldo bias is at play.
The Spurs forward finished the 2021/22 season as the joint Golden Boot winner alongside Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, with both men notching 23 goals for the campaign. In doing so, Son became the first-ever Asian player to win the coveted award.
However, in the PFA's Team of the Year that was announced on Thursday evening, Son was left out, with Salah selected in the XI alongside wantaway Anfield colleague Sadio Mane and Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Davies, who made 146 appearances in the Premier League during spells with West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Hull City, believes that Spurs would not have qualified for next season's Champions League without Son's quality and feels that Ronaldo is only in the team based on his reputation.
"My biggest disappointment is Son," Davies told talkSPORT. "To not see him in the six nominees just blew my mind. Not seeing him there was maybe a lean towards what was going to happen with the team. I can't believe he's not in there. He's pulled up trees for that Tottenham side, who scraped fourth at the end of the season.
"With the PFA awards, you get the voting ballot and I think players naturally think of who is at the top. You look at the team, there's Liverpool, Man City and then one Chelsea and one Manchester United player. That one Manchester United player happens to be Cristiano Ronaldo.
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"It just comes down to, you think of a name, that'll do, put it down. Think of a name, that'll do, put it down. Sometimes it is not as thought out as it should be. You can't blame anyone else because the players have voted for this throughout the Premier League. I'm not saying these players didn't deserve it, I believe Heung-min Son, more than anyone – and having won the Golden Boot without any penalties – deserved to be in this team."
The PFA Team of the Year is made up of stars who played for either Premier League winners Manchester City or close runners-up Liverpool. The Citizens have Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva all representing them, while Liverpool have six players, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Thiago, Salah and Mane.
The other spot is taken up by Antonio Rudiger, who recently left Chelsea on a free transfer to join Real Madrid, with Ronaldo named as the final player in the XI.
Son is closing in on joining the Premier League's 100-goal club and has so far netted 93 times in his seven years in England's top-flight, as well as an additional 38 goals across the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Champions League, Europa League and the Europa Conference League.
A haul of 23 league goals in a season was a new personal best for Son as he won the Golden Boot award for the first time in his career. In total, Son ended the campaign with 24 goals in all competitions, with his other coming during a Conference League win over Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem in November 2021.
While teammate and England captain Harry Kane was also left out of the PFA's Team of the Year, he did score more goals in 2021/22, with 27 goals in all competitions from 50 appearances for Spurs.
The striker also became the second player in English history to reach 50 international goals on Tuesday night, netting a penalty to earn a 1-1 draw in the Nations League against Germany.
