The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) have announced the six-man shortlist for the Player of the Year, with Leicester players accounting for half the shortlist.

Leicester’s improbable run to the league title is rewarded with three nominations, with Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante all shortlisted.

The Foxes trio make up half of the six-man shortlist for the award, which is voted for by fellow professionals, with Tottenham's 22-goal striker Harry Kane, Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil and West Ham's Dimitri Payet the other names in the frame to succeed 2015 winner Eden Hazard.

Kane is also in contention to retain the Young Player of the Year gong he won 12 months ago and he features on a six-player shortlist alongside Spurs team-mate Dele Alli, Everton duo Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, Stoke's Jack Butland and Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho.

Like Kante, Payet has enjoyed a fine first campaign after coming across the Channel last summer while 27-year-old German international Ozil has contributed a league-leading 18 assists for the Gunners this term.

Eight times in the previous 11 seasons the Players' Player of the Year has played for Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool yet, just one year from those clubs having four players on the half-a-dozen strong shortlist, there are no representatives from any of those clubs.

Reds forward Coutinho was up for the main award last year and he could yet win the Young Player of the Year award, a title which 20-year-old Alli will hope to earn just one year after he was named the Football League's Young Player of the Year.

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