PFA Awards: Three Arsenal players in men’s nominees; Shaw, Russo headline women’s

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has announced its candidates for its end-of-season awards.

The PFA is the body to which all professional footballers in England belong, with the players voting for the award winners.

The organisation confirmed the six nominees for men’s player of the season on Friday morning, with Arsenal players making up half the list.

Goalkeeper David Raya — who won the golden glove award with 19 clean sheets — centre-back Gabriel and midfielder Declan Rice have all been nominated after the north London side won their first league title in 22 years. No Arsenal player has won the award since Robin van Persie in 2012.

The Manchester City duo of Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki have also been nominated, with Haaland aiming to win the award for the second time. The Norwegian striker won the Premier League golden boot for the third time in the last four seasons after scoring 27 goals.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes completes the list, having already won the Football Writers’ Association men’s footballer of the year award. The 31-year-old broke the Premier League assist record on the final day of the campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion, recording his 21st assist of the season to surpass the previous mark of 20 set by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

The six candidates for women’s player of the season have also been confirmed, headlined by Manchester City’s golden boot-winning (21 goals) striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw. The 29-year-old could become the third two-time winner of the award after Lucy Bronze and Fran Kirby.

Shaw helped City to a WSL and FA Cup double (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Shaw’s team-mate Yui Hasegawa is also nominated, with the Japan captain named in the PFA team of the year in all of the three previous seasons.

Arsenal and England forward Alessia Russo, who finished second on the scoring charts with 13 goals, is up for the award, as is Aston Villa’s Kirsty Hanson, who finished just behind Russo with 12 goals.

Chelsea star Lauren James and Manchester United’s Jess Park are also on the list, meaning that three English players have been nominated. England have had seven winners of the award since it was first introduced in 2013.