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At the close of a week that saw Anthony Gordon deliver his first Barcelona press conference in flawless Spanish and Ibrahima Konate open up courageously about his battle with depression this season, fresh evidence has emerged suggesting that footballers, as ever, can still make baffling decisions.

Roughly 5,000 members of the Professional Footballers’ Association voted to decide the six nominees for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. The results indicate that many of the players either lack a deep understanding of football or continue to view the game through a narrow Big Club lens, far more so than most fans or even the supporters of those elite sides themselves.

Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly fully deserve their places on the shortlist, as does Junior Kroupi, who broke the record for the most Premier League goals (13) in a debut season by a teenager — a feat that has already drawn the attention of Europe’s top clubs this summer.

Kobbie Mainoo may be slightly fortunate to earn a nomination after missing half the season under Ruben Amorim, but his resurgence under Michael Carrick has been impressive enough to earn him a recall to the England squad ahead of the World Cup.

However, one must question whether he has truly outperformed Bournemouth’s Alex Scott. Even acknowledging Mainoo’s strong return, there’s a clear argument that a Big Club bias has influenced this year’s selections. That bias becomes even more apparent with the inclusion of Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha and Arsenal’s teenage prodigy Max Dowman as the fifth and sixth nominees.

Ngumoha has been one of few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season for Liverpool, often emerging as their most dangerous attacking option despite the club signing Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, and Florian Wirtz in the summer and retaining Mohamed Salah for what proved to be his final Premier League campaign.

However, the key phrase is ‘when he was playing’. Ngumoha started only five Premier League matches and played a total of 551 minutes, scoring twice and providing one assist. By comparison, Rayan joined Bournemouth in January, netted five goals and registered two assists across 1,120 minutes, and is now preparing to represent Brazil at the World Cup.

Even so, Ngumoha’s nomination seems reasonable compared to that of Max Dowman.

To be clear, Dowman’s talent is not in question — nor is Ngumoha’s. Both are highly promising prospects who could justifiably feature in future shortlists. But Dowman’s selection this year, after logging a mere 153 minutes of Premier League football, is nothing short of absurd.

In contrast, Newcastle’s Lewis Hall clocked over 2,000 minutes, while West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes surpassed 3,000 minutes and is now reportedly attracting an £80 million transfer bid this summer.

Dowman’s season essentially boils down to that memorable goal against Everton — a moment of brilliance, no doubt, but hardly the foundation for a PFA nomination. Compared to the consistent influence of players like Scott, Rayan, Hall, and Fernandes — not to mention a dozen more overlooked talents — Dowman’s inclusion feels undeserved.

It’s yet another instance where players themselves have only their peers to blame, seemingly voting based on fleeting social media moments rather than sustained performance across the season.