Cristiano Ronaldo is the hot favorite to be named the PFA player of the year by his fellow English soccer professionals and also pick up the young player award.
The Manchester United winger has scored 37 league and cup goals this season, some of them from audacious dribbles and long-range free kicks and headers. They have helped Man United, the defending champions, go top of the Premier League and reach the semifinals of the Champions League.
"The boy's intelligent and sensible enough to realize what football's about,'' United manager Alex Ferguson said Friday. "Success can affect people, there's no question about that, you see it time and time again, but the great quality is to keep your ability and to keep your feet on the ground.
"Yes, he will go and express himself in a way that's extravagant at times, but that's a measure of his courage, his real ability, which we'd never in any way attempt to stop him doing. We want players like that.''
The Portuguese international is one of six nominations for the Professional Footballers' Association's player of the year award. The others are Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Arsenal's Emmanual Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, whose saves helped Pompey reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 1939.
Ronaldo, Torres and Adebayor are also among the nominations for the young player award, along with Aston Villa's Gabriel Adebayor and Ashley Young and Manchester City's Micah Richards.
The winners of both awards will be announced April 27.
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