Eden Hazard, Antonio Valencia, N'golo Kante, Alexis Sanchez and Philippe Make FIFPro World 11 Nominations

Manchester United right-back Antonio Valencia is the surprise nominee for this year’s FIFPro World 11 – an all-star world XI compiled every year. Big names from the Premier League such as Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Arsenal pair Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are among the more established big names to also make the final 55 names.

While Valencia has been something of an unsung hero for United in recent times, it is questionable if he is really anywhere near the calibre of some of the other names to make the list, even among those at his own club.

Fellow United stars Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, David de Gea and Nemanja Matic have also been nominated, while, as ever, star names from European giants Barcelona and Real Madrid dominate.

Valencia would do well to make the final cut given the competition he faces, with Dani Alves, Philipp Lahm and Daniel Carvajal surely all stronger contenders for the right-back spot.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho are others from the Premier League to get a nomination, but one or two eyebrows may be raised at no one from Manchester City getting a look-in.

FIFPro 11 nominees in full

Manchester United

Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Antonio Valencia, David de Gea, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic

Chelsea

Eden Hazard, David Luiz, N’Golo Kante

Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil

Liverpool

Philippe Coutinho

Tottenham

Harry Kane

Real Madrid

Keylor Navas, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Isco, Dani Carvajal, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Marcelo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane

Barcelona

Javier Mascherano, Samuel Umtiti, Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta

Atletico Madrid

Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak, Diego Godin

Paris Saint-Germain

Edinson Cavani, Neymar, Thiago Silva, Kylian Mbappe, Dani Alves, Marco Verratti

Bayern Munich

Manuel Neuer, Thiago Alcantara, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba

Juventus

Paulo Dybala, Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini

AC Milan

Leonardo Bonucci

Besiktas

Pepe

Sergio Aguero would surely be a stand-out contender from the squad at the Etihad Stadium, while the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva may also feel harshly overlooked.

Players from around the world will get to vote on the final team, with voting closing in December and the line up announced at a special event in January.

Source: Metro

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