Another decent market to have a flutter on before major tournaments begin is the Player of the Tournament market. I have to admit I’m still scarred by this Euro2016 market having been robbed of a certain looking winner when I backed Andrea Pirlo in it at 80/1 four years ago only to see the man head and shoulders the best player in the tournament mugged off in the final announcement.
I’m nothing if not bitter though and I aim to get ultimate revenge on the market in the 2016 competition! It must be said this is a very competitive market with bookmakers going 10/1 the field and with the talent on show in this tournament it isn’t hard to see why.
Previous Winners
2012 – Andres Iniesta
2008 – Xavi
2004 – Theo Zagorakis
2000 – Zinedine Zidane
1996 – Matthias Sammer
As you can see the last five winners of this award have come from the winning team in the tournament and I’m not expecting any different here I have to say.
Market Leaders
With France the favourites to win the tournament it makes sense for Paul Pogba to lead the betting for the player of the tournament. For my money Pogba is easily the most talented individual at this tournament and if France go well he will have had a big tournament. You could almost say this is a better bet than France winning the tournament because the two are likely to go together barring injury.
Pogba’s teammate Antoine Griezmann is a joint second favourite alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at 14/1. Neither really need much introduction and Griezmann is a live runner especially if Pogba does get injured. Whether Portugal can go deep enough for Ronaldo to be a factor remains to be seen.
Germany’s Thomas Muller comes next at 16/1 but although he is a goalscorer I’m not sure he is influential enough to get the nod even were Germany to win the tournament. I think there are better bets than he in their side.
Kevin de Bruyne has a big reputation and here he has a stage to deliver on and he is 20/1 to light the tournament up enough to land this award. I don’t see Belgium impressing enough nor going deep enough for him to be in the game. The same goes for his teammate Eden Hazard at the same price.
It is 22/1 bar those named with some really big players in that bracket including the wizardry of Dimitri Payet, the youthful exuberance of Dele Alli and the experience and knowhow of Andres Iniesta. All are set up for big tournaments.
Betting
I’m taking two standout players here. I’m obviously taking someone from France seeing as though I think they will win the tournament and then I’m taking a German as their ruthless efficiency could get them deep enough for one of their players to standout.
I feel a bit of a fraud for picking so many favourites going into this tournament but I guess with the international game so open for all to see these days with every qualifier televised and things the market isn’t going to be too far out.
Paul Pogba is quite simply France’s best player. He is this generation’s Zinedine Zidane and I expect him to set this tournament alight. A home player potentially winning the tournament in front of his own fans in one of the best stadia in the world is a perfect story for this sort of award. Even at 10/1 I think the ex-Man Utd midfielder is a standout pick here.
Mesut Ozil has been an assist machine in the Premier League for the last 12 months and if he translates that ratio into this tournament then he can catch the eye for Germany. Ozil will be on set pieces which is never a bad thing to bank the assists with but he has an eye for goal as well.
When he went to Arsenal he was hot property but because of Arsenal’s struggles his star might have waned on the European scale so here is a chance for him to show everyone how good he is again. If Germany go deep I fancy it will be because of Ozil not in spite of him and at 25/1 I’ll pay to see if he can convince enough to land the prize.
Tips
Back P.Pogba Player of the Tournament for a 2/10 stake at 11.00 with Winner Sports
Back him here:
Back M.Ozil Player of the Tournament for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Bet365
Back him here:
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