Rio Ferdinand 'Laughs' at Inclusion Of Saka Ahead of Ronaldo in Premier League Player of the Season Award

• Former England and Manchester United centre-half Rio Ferdinand has criticized the Premier League Player of the Season nominees describing Ronaldo's absence as laughable
• Despite Ronaldo enduring a tough season with Man United, the Portuguese has scored 18 goals and provided three assists while picking up two Player of the Month awards
• The Premier League announced Bukayo Saka, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrod Bowen, Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min and James Ward-Prowse as nominees for this year's award

Rio Ferdinand believes the decision to include Bukayo Saka in the Premier League Player of the Season nominees ahead of Ronaldo is laughable.

The Premier League announced the nominees for this season's best player award last week which saw some reputable names excluded from the list.

Among the list of players missing in the PFA Player of the Season nominees is Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo - who has been involved in 21 goals for the Red Devils.

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Sharing his pearl of wisdom on this year's nominees which does include Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand literally questioned the credibility of the list.

"Saka’s in the in the Player of the Year nominees?" said the ex-defender - who played alongside Ronaldo for six years - on his Vibe with Five YouTube show as quoted by Mirror. "I wouldn’t have had Saka in there yet, as well as he’s done. I wouldn’t have had him over Ronaldo, no, not this season.

"Ronaldo should be in ahead of three of four of those guys in there. He probably doesn’t win it but in terms of nominees, it’s laughable.

"He’ll take it as a disrespect but these are the things that fuel him, he’ll be thinking, 'How dare you?' If it’s based on stats, he’s like, 'I’ve banged in more goals than most of them on that list other than Salah, so what are you talking about?'"

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English Premier League Player of the Season nominees announced

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min and Kevin De Bruyne have been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Season award.

The trio are part of an eight-man shortlist announced by Premier League on Friday afternoon. Salah currently leads the race for the Golden Boot award with 22 goals to his name.

He has however suffered from a slump in form that has seen Son move to within one goal of Salah's tally. Salah also leads the assists charts, having provided 13 goals in the Premier League so far.