A UEFA website survey this week dedicated to finding the top team of 2011 saw just one Premier League player selected.
Tottenham’s Gareth Bale was the only man to break in to an XI that was almost totally the preserve of the Spanish Giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.
But I don’t think it really is as big a criticism of our game as it might instantly appear.
For a start there is always the factor that there seems to be very little we can do right over here when it comes to anything involving UEFA or FIFA.
But that aside, I think Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger (pictured above) summed it up when he said it would take any European player time to settle in the Premier League and that some, in fact, never get used to the pace of our game at all.
David Silva is perhaps a case in point.
When he first arrived everyone thought he would be too lightweight to make it over here and that he would struggle, but he has worked hard to adapt and he looks pretty much favourite to take our Player of the Year awards.
But Bale has been brilliant over the year and we have players this season who I feel should have made the grade in the likes of Vincent Kompany, who has been superb over the year, the likes of Luca Modric – and Joe Hart has to be the best keeper on the continent at the moment.
And the other factor you have to pencil in is that in the Spanish league there are only so many big games for the top clubs over the season and, while Barcelona are a superb side, the opposition they face a lot of the time is not the best.
