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UEFA today released the 32-man shortlist for the re-christened "Best Player in Europe Award", to be handed out in Monaco on August the 30th this year, and Arsenal forward Robin van Persie is deservedly one of them, after a season which saw him bag 37 goals in 45 matches for the Gunners.
The other names on the list are pretty unsurprising as well: Xavi, Vincent Kompany, Shinji Kagawa, Petr Cech, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo, et al. make up some of the other 31 names. Some fellow called Lionel Messi is on there, too, although he almost assuredly has no chance against the likes of Chelsea's Fernando Torres and Bangor FC's Les Davies.
Wait a minute. Wait. Hold on. Les Davies. Hold on.
Les Davies? Les Davies. Leslie Got-danged Davies.
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Okay, so, if maintaining old guard names like Raul on the shortlist for the award hadn't already convinced you that UEFA basically sees this as a popularity contest and not a measure of any kind of true ability whatsoever, the fact that they also felt the need to troll Mr. Davies, who is semi-pro, by clearly nominating him as some kind of joke basically should tell you all you need to know. Remember this poll? Yeah, UEFA is better at this than I am.
Anyway, at least van Persie is on there. Sigh.