FIFA 17 Team of the Year leak: Griezmann potentially snubbed

Could these be the FIFPro World XI for 2016 (aka FIFA 17 Ultimate Team’s Team of the Year)? Long time community member/trading stalwart iGoldenBear has surfaced one heck of a doozie if so.

The logic certainly is sound enough and from the horse’s (err, GoldenBear’s) mouth, here’s how it breaks down:

— A 20-year old Biomedical Science student from Birmingham (UK) won an all expenses paid trip to Zurich for the World 11 gala, FIFPro announced Monday. Shazad Ali Shah guessed all 11 members of this year’s World 11 to receive the honor.

— iGoldenBear found Shah’s personal Twitter account where he tweeted his apparent winning entry after he made it back in early December.

From FIFPro’s site, here’s Shah’s pick (and potentially this year’s World XI):

Antoine Griezmann’s clearly the biggest apparent snub and is extra puzzling given his inclusion as a finalist (along with Ronaldo and Messi) for the new best men’s player in the world honor replacing the Ballon d’Or. There’s a great case to be made for Kante, David Alaba, and others as well.

Quickly, Antoine Griezmann’s Champions League Group Stage Team of the Tournament card all but disappeared from both next gen markets:

Courtesy of our friends at FUTWIZ, we can imagine what the final Team of the Year cards might look like next Monday:

But then ... A plot twist! Shah’s denying he tweeted the winning entry (though the original tweet remains up). Did he make multiple entries? Or is he bluffing to try and build up suspense?

Neuer and the defenders should start in packs next Monday afternoon in the US.

So what are your thoughts on this year’s potential Team of the Year? A bit safe? Any particular snubs you’re most upset about?

UPDATE, January 2, 6:33 p.m. ET: Shah’s now deleted his original prediction tweet. The plot thickens.

UPDATE, January 3, 12:17 p.m.: FIFPro is denying that the World 11 has leaked. We’d take this at face value if not for the deletion above. If that prediction wasn’t right, why delete it?