“?Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has left football fans baffled by his 2015/16 Premier League Team of the Season selection.
The 69-year-old deservedly handed starting berths to Leicester City trio Jamie Vardy, N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez, as well as other notable performers such as Harry Kane and David De Gea.
But the ex-West Ham United and Bournemouth footballer left fans, pundits and the media bewildered by the inclusions of Norwich City’s Martin Olsson and Bournemouth’s Adam Smith at left back and right back respectively, as well as plumping for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk at centre-half.
Olsson, who has plied his trade with Norwich since joining from Blackburn Rovers in July 2013, featured in just 24 Premier League games as the Canaries were relegated from England’s top tier after just one season in the top flight.
Smith played in 31 matches for Bournemouth, scoring twice before a hernia injury ruled in April him out for the rest of the season.
The full-back pair saw off competition from Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin to somehow make Redknapp’s best eleven of the 2015/16 campaign.
Van Dijk, meanwhile, enjoyed an impressive debut campaign in the Premier League for Southampton following a summer move from Celtic, featuring 34 times for the Saints and scoring three goals in the league.
The Dutch international, however, was picked by Redknapp ahead of Leicester centre-back pairing Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, who won the league title with the Foxes, as well as Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen, who enjoyed a stellar season at the back alongside fellow Belgium international Toby Alderweireld at the heart of Spurs’ defence.
Redknapp’s 2015/16 Team of the Season: David de Gea (Manchester United), Adam Smith (Bournemouth), Virgil van Dijk (Southampton), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), N’Golo Kante (Leicester City), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
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