No Ronaldo, no Benzema, no Thomas Müller... our Team of the Year in FIFA 22 would have looked very different. These players should have been in the team, right?
Voting for the Team of the Year in FIFA 22 is over and... well, we are a little bit surprised about some players. Just for your info: a total of 5! Paris Saint-Germain players made it into the world eleven.... isn't that a bit much regarding how they performed last season?
Did EA influence the vote to get their cover star on the team or did the fans really vote that way? Doesn't matter, though, that's not what we're talking about today. Instead, today's about which players we think deserved to be in the TOTY.
These Players Needed To Be In The TOTY
Thomas Müller - Bayern Munich (87 OVR)
Clearly one of the most-underrated players of the last decade. It's bad enough that he's not on the radar of many journalists, coaches, players and fans when it comes to the Ballon d'Or, or #TheBest awards... and FIFA 22 is unfortunately no different.
For real, though, if he played in the Premier League or had Ronaldinho's technique, he would have been in the Team of the Year more often, for sure. In the 20/21 season, he delivered, and in the meantime, he has already collected 16 assists in 19 Bundesliga games. Who is this Kevin De Bruyne compared to Thomas Müller last year?
Trent Alexander-Arnold - Liverpool FC (87 OVR)
Prime Alexander-Arnold > Prime Hakimi any day of the week, come @ me! Of course, you can argue that Hakimi played the better second half of the season at Inter, but this season, Trent is definitely the best RB in the world again.
Since we have a bias against PSG anyway and 5 players from one club - reminds us of FIFA 13 with 5x Barca and 5x Real Madrid - is definitely too much, we would have liked to see Trent in the FIFA 22 TOTY.
Karim Benzema - Real Madrid (89 OVR)
We can still remember that a few years ago, he was a bit ridiculed. Then Cristiano Ronaldo went to Juve and since then, he carries Real Madrid on his back.
There is no question that he's one of the top 3 players in the world this season. But his key stats for the 20/21 season are also impressive. That's why we would have seen him ahead of Mbappé in this Team of the Year. Even if the Parisian fits better into the meta, of course.
- PS: Mbappé is young, he surely will be in the TOTY in FIFA 27. Benzema maybe not any more...
Why Ronaldo & Salah Didn't Make TOTY?
Who deserves it more, Ronaldo or Salah? If your answer is Mohamed Salah, you're probably right in the eyes of many fans. But will he get a spot in the TOTY? Probably not. The twelfth man vote in FIFA 22 is yet to come and.... honestly, this is just a popularity contest. And who is more popular than Ronaldo? That's right, nobody.
The starting eleven of the TOTY in FIFA 22 is not quite what we expected, but of course we are hyped anyway. If some of the leaks with the stats are true, the upgrades look much better than in FIFA 21...