UEFA have announced their short list for the 2015-16 Best Player in Europe Award, with the final 10 consisting of the names you would expect: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Gianluigi Buffon, Gareth Bale et al.
The vote was conducted by journalists from all 55 of UEFA's member associations, who were each asked to submit a list of their five best-ranked players in Europe -- the first player receiving five points, the second four points and so on.
UEFA then crunched the numbers to produce a preliminary list, from which the aforementioned top 10 will be taken forward into a second round of voting in early August to establish the three finalists.
However, it's down in the lower reaches of the rankings where the real fun begins, with Paul Pogba curiously coming in 25th place, tied on points with Northern Ireland striker Will Grigg.
The Will Grigg craziness continues... He got as many points as Pogba in vote for UEFA's best player in Europe prize. pic.twitter.com/ZM3ahA0FGT
- John Bennett (@JohnBennettBBC) July 18, 2016
Pogba, as you may know, was a beaten finalist with France at Euro 2016 and is currently being sounded out by several of the biggest clubs in the world -- with a £100 million move to Manchester United mooted.
Grigg plays for Wigan Athletic and managed to amass a grand total of zero minutes on the pitch at Euro 2016, never making it off the bench.
He did have a catchy chant though, which is presumably what he picked up all those points for.
