The shortlist of candidates for this year's FIFA 21 Bundesliga Team of the Season award has been published by EA Sports. It's important to remember that all these recommendations are focused solely on players' Bundesliga results, with no consideration given to the DFB-Pokal or Champions League. Seven Bayern Munich players were among the 40 candidates for this year's TOTS. Manuel Neuer, Alphonso Davies, Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, and, of course, Robert Lewandowski were all named to the shortlist this year.
The entire list of the players include:
Goalkeeper:
Koen Casteels, Rafal Gikiewicz, Peter Gulacsi, Manuel Neuer and Stefan Ortega.
Defenders:
Angelino, Ridle Baku, John Brooks, Marvin Friedrich, Raphael Guerreiro, Christian Gunter, Alphonso Davies, Borna Sosa, Christopher Trimmel, Mats Hummels
Midfielders:
Maximilian Arnold, Christoph Baumgartner, Dani Olmo, Ritsu Doan, Wataru Endo, Leon Goretzka, Vincenzo Grifo, Daichi Kamada, Joshua Kimmich, Filip Kostic, Matheus Cunha, Thomas Muller, Christoph Nkunku, Jadon Sancho, Lars Stindl
Forwards:
Andre Silva, Leon Bailey, Serge Gnabry, Erling Haaland, Sasa Kalajdzic, Andrej Kramaric, Max Kruse, Robert Lewandowski, Silas Wamangituka, Wout Weghorst.
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Surprising Entries:
Serge Gnabry was a surprise inclusion in this year's list of nominees. Although Gnabry hasn't had a poor season, he has only 9 goals and 3 assists this year, compared to 12 goals and 11 assists last year. If anything, the German winger has digressed in his game this season.
Mats Hummels was a name we didn't expect to see among the defender nominees this year. Mats Hummels has a tackle success rate of just 41.9 per cent, which ranks him 58th in the league. So far this season, Borussia Dortmund has conceded 42 times, which isn't exactly impressive. We are not sure how Hummels made the list this season over Nico Elvedi and other outstanding defenders. As much as we love Hummels, this season just wasn’t his best.
Notable people who missed out:
Jonas Hoffman was a noticeable absence in this year's shortlist. He qualified to be among the 40 candidates, even though we don't feel he belongs in the best XI. Hoffmann was excellent for a modest Gladbach team, scoring six goals and providing 11 assists in just 21 appearances. While his lack of performances may have played a role in his lack of nomination, Max Kruse was nominated with just 19 appearances.
Another notable absentee from this year's nominees was Freiburg goalkeeper Florian Müller. With a saving percentage of 71.9 per cent, Müller had the highest save percentage of any goalie in the Bundesliga. Although he only has six clean sheets to his name, he has held Freiburg in several games this season and is a big reason for their decent showing. Surprisingly, he's not among the five goalkeeper nominees.
Also Read | Bundesliga Team of the Season – 2020/21
