COMMENT: Give it to the big number 30. Player of the Year. Give the gong to the Brazilian lad at Chelsea...
No, no, not Diego Costa. The one at the back. David Luiz.
If we can name only one transformative influence at Chelsea - and there's been many - it has to be Luiz.
Yes, Costa has been outstanding. The goals. The performances. He's taken this Premier League season by the scruff of the neck. And shaken it as violently as he did a year ago. Eden Hazard? Yep, he's also a worthy contender. Back to his silky smooth best. And even N'Golo Kante is now being highlighted by pundits. After last season's PFA snub, he'd be a sentimental - but also deserved - winner.
But none of these Blues - and at present time the Player of the Year should come from Stamford Bridge - has had the influence of Luiz. And that's both on and off the pitch.
On the ground, the nomination writes itself. At 29. At the peak of his powers. David Luiz is in the form of his life. His arrival allowed Antonio Conte to go with his favoured back three formation. But the manager still needed Luiz to be disciplined, controlled and a leader to make things work. And from day one, he's been just that.
In front of Thibaut Courtois. And with Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta on either side. It's Luiz who's been Chelsea's prime defensive force. The natural desire to pass out from the back is gone. The ill-timed jaunts upfield eliminated. What you get from Luiz these days is a proper, proper defensive performance. If the ball needs to be cleared, he's hoofing it. If there's a better passer available, he's leaving the ball to them. The just turned 27 year-old who left for Paris almost three years ago is now a player experienced enough to know his strengths and to put away his weaknesses.
But that's on the pitch. Off it, his influence has been even greater.
Michael Emenalo, Chelsea's football director, has been hammered over recent transfer windows. But the decision to bring back Luiz, despite the mocking and finger wagging of the ex-players' brigade, has been the stuff of genius. At the beginning of a new era, with a new manager and new demands, Emenalo's job was on the line. After two poor transfer windows the previous season, Luiz was a real roll of the dice for the Nigerian last August.
But he knew what Chelsea needed. And what they were getting. Not just a centre-half, but also a character. A locker room leader. Someone to lift a rock bottom dressing room. A group players who had found themselves in freefall last season and bereft of the tools to find there way back. Conte's arrival and their slow start to the campaign only added to the despair. But then Luiz appeared.
Listen to PSG's players and it isn't Zlatan Ibrahimovic whom they miss. Indeed, after last week's rout of Barcelona, some are even claiming the Swede's departure allowed others to breathe. However, the same isn't said about Luiz. When his former teammates mention the Chelsea man, words like "joy", "spirit" and "friendship" dominate the discussion.
"We lost a Brazilian buddy," says Marquinhos, who was actually struggling to get a game ahead of Luiz before this season, "who breathed the joy of living and who brought many positive things to the locker room."
And that's just it. As valuable as Luiz has been to Conte's formation, inside the club his return has meant even more. All the moping, the surliness, which typified these Chelsea players last season has gone. That team was on its last legs. Wracked with pettiness and out of control egos. It had to be broken up. But now...
So what's changed? Winning helps. As does a coach with a strong focus on man-management. But the one clear difference between this season's team and the one of 12 months ago is the mop-top Brazilian wearing the No30.
The biggest compliment to make to Luiz is that there's been barely a mention over the prospect of any fallout from John Terry's now inevitable departure. The debate about Chelsea leaders has been silenced. The concern about finding a commanding centre-half to succeed the club captain now gone.
Inside the club and out on the field, Luiz has achieved the impossible. Terry, as harsh as it is, has become an afterthought. Chelsea will survive without him. They have a new leader and a potential new legend.
That's why David Luiz deserves to be this season's Player of the Year.
