Why Ronaldo & Son Heung-min should have been in the Premier League TOTS

Golden boot winner Son Heung Min was astonishingly left out of the Premier League 21/22 Team of the Season (TOTS). His side Tottenham managed to finish fourth place and secure Champions League football for next season and Son was a huge part of why they managed to secure that position. Despite his brilliance this season he was snubbed by the Premier League TOTs leaving most of the fans outraged.

The main dispute was the inclusion of Ronaldo or Mane over Son Heung-min, with Ronaldo at the forefront of the argument. Thus, this blog will take a look out who should have not been picked over Son, who most definitely deserved to be included in this year's PFA team of the season. 

The 'Team of the Season' that was announced consisted of these players: 

(Taken from @SkySportsPL on Twitter)

Many supporters, apart from most United fans, have disapproved of Ronaldo's inclusion in the team of the season due to his side Man Utd having their worst ever season in terms of points in a Premier League campaign. A lot of people argued how he hindered the progress of Man Utd and their players after the club finished second in the season prior. However, Ronaldo managed to finish the club's top scorer and 3rd in the golden boot race with 18 goals (Salah and Son were joint golden boot winners) despite playing in a very dysfunctional Man Utd team. 

He also played fewer Premier League games than both Son and Mane and yet outscored Mane (16 goals), who is part of a brilliant Liverpool set-up. However, this does not mean Mane had a poor season. It was certainly an improvement from his last season in terms of individual performance and stats also the fact he won two trophies (Fa Cup and Carabao Cup) helped bolster his claims to be in the team of the season. 

However, the places in the team of the season were mainly based on the performances in the Premier League alone. And both Cristiano Ronaldo and Mane had great individual seasons in the Premier League. Mane managed to finish higher (2nd) in league positions than Ronaldo (6th) which helped boost his credibility to be involved in the team of the season for the supporters. Although I think the disrespect Ronaldo has received this season is unfathomable after he virtually carried a lifeless Man Utd team in all competitions he played in. His contributions, as well as David De Gea, made sure that Man Utd didn't finish in the bottom half of the table. And to be 3rd top scorer in the league in this team is quite an achievement at 37 years of age as well. Thus I feel his position in that team of the season is justified.

Furthermore, Son Heung-min is more of a winger for Tottenham while Ronaldo was mainly used as a lone striker this season. Thus to replace Ronaldo you would require another striker to be in the team. Mane has been used in that position by Liverpool this season but Ronaldo is still evidently better in that position and there was no other striker in the league that performed as well as Ronaldo this season. 

Therefore, I believe Son Heung-min should be in the team over Mane as they play on the wings and that's where the comparisons should be held. Yes, Mane finished second with LFC and Son finished fourth with spurs but based on individual performances Son had a world-class season and was a golden boot winner with 23 goals alongside Salah. And to not be involved in the team is a disrespect to the performances he has put in over the last 11 months. 

This does not mean Mane was poor this season, it just means that there were players that had better individual campaigns than him with Ronaldo and Son being two of them.