So, if Manchester United are going to win another treble, or at least get close to their towering achievement of 1999 by going the full distance in each of the three big challenges that remain, who is going to be this year's footballer of the year?
Not the PFA Player of the Year, the one where voting has already taken place and the winner is due to be announced this weekend. Though arguably more authentic than the football writers' version, because players themselves make the choices, the PFA award is always slightly compromised by the necessity for a shortlist that is usually drawn up much too early in the season. The Football Writers' Association (FWA) award is usually seen as having more gravitas, because it is a completely free vote and it comes much closer to the end of the season, and even players initially blase about the honour tend to be overwhelmed when they see the photographs of their illustrious predecessors dating right back to 1948 (Stanley Matthews) lining the walls of the Royal Lancaster hotel's cavernous banqueting room.
The last time United won a treble, the FWA award went to David Ginola of Tottenham, a fact that Sir Alex Ferguson now mentions only about four times a week. He still laughs out loud at the memory while simultaneously shaking his head at confirmation that journalists know nothing whatsoever about football, but for the first couple of years after the event the United manager used to regale passersby with the same incredible story about four times a day.
The reason Ginola won the award that year is quite simple. The United vote was hopelessly split, with up to half a dozen players sharing it between them, so the core of London votes the Spurs player picked up for having a decent season was enough to push him past the post first. It was an obvious embarrassment, and probably no accident that Roy Keane won the award the following season then Teddy Sheringham the next, but then, as now, United had several leading candidates and because the treble was won with almost literally the last kick of the season all the votes had been cast. Ginola picked up his award in London (he was also the PFA's choice that season, to be fair) a couple of weeks before United added first the FA Cup and then the European Cup to their domestic league title.
There is nothing in the rules that says the player of the year must come from the most successful team; it is supposed to be an individual award after all. There would be few complaints if Gareth Bale, for instance, picked up one or both honours this season, even though Spurs may well finish empty-handed and the winger's recent performances have been compromised by injury. Yet a treble is such a startling achievement it almost overshadows all others. If a team have really been that dominant it seems perverse to go looking anywhere else for the best player, or certainly it does when looking back on events from a few years down the line.
The trouble with trebles though, as we are seeing again this season, is that dominance has a habit of announcing itself late. It is only a few weeks since even Ferguson was laughing off the possibility of repeating 1999, saying he would be happy with just one of the major awards. United have not looked all that formidable for much of the season. They look strong right now, with Chelsea out of the way and either Barcelona or Real Madrid their likeliest stumbling block, yet for most of the season people have been complaining that they are an ordinary side that are at the top of the Premier League virtually by default.
To repeat the question in the first paragraph then, should United be able to prove otherwise in the next few weeks, which of their players has had the most remarkable season? Nemanja Vidic has been a solid presence as captain, and is on the PFA list, though defenders traditionally struggle to get noticed when it comes to awards. Patrice Evra has been just as good, and even Edwin van der Sar has his backers, which just goes to show that even in the unglamorous area of defence United can produce a number of outstanding performers.
Up front where the headlines are made Dimitar Berbatov is the league's leading scorer but cannot get in the side for important matches. Nani has had probably his best ever season but is not the most effective player at Old Trafford, never mind the rest of the country. Wayne Rooney is now rediscovering his best form but produced little before Christmas to suggest he should keep the award he won last year. Rooney thoroughly deserved it last year; this season he has not been quite as impressive. Ryan Giggs, on the other hand, has probably produced more sublime match-winning moments this season than when he won the PFA award two years ago. In 2009 it appeared he was honoured for being such a nice guy and looking after himself so well, whereas now he has a real chance of being the only player ever to win two trebles separated by 12 years and play a vital role in each.
Yet the more you look at United's season the more the contribution of a player in his first year in England stands out. Javier Hernández started out making brief contributions as a substitute, finishing reliably and winning the confidence of his manager and his team-mates. He now has 18 goals from 20 starts, has relegated £30m Berbatov to the bench and is credited with helping bring the best out of Rooney. The fact that he cost only £6m is neither here nor there – Giggs cost nothing and the less said about Ferguson's £7m investment in Bébé the better – though there is something irresistible about the young Mexican scoring for fun when a player such as £50m Fernando Torres looks as if he may never manage another goal in his life.
Hernández scored both the goals against Marseille that put United into the quarter-final against Chelsea, and he would have had two more against Carlo Ancelotti's side at Old Trafford but for a highly questionable offside decision denying him his first. Television replays showed Hernández was about level both times – he was certainly more level for the first than Berbatov was for the opener against Fulham on Saturday – and one camera view of the disallowed goal suggested his feet had been onside while his head (he was leaning forward, looking round his defender) was in an offside position. Complete nonsense, of course. Anyone in such a position ought to be given the benefit of the doubt and declared level. Linesmen cannot be expected to reach the sort of fine judgements that television pictures make possible, though the spirit of the law should be that if a player is not clearly offside then he is onside.
Anyway, the Little Pea, I would suggest, is now as strong a candidate for player of the year as the big bloke from Serbia. It probably comes down to a choice between the value put on reliable defending and sparkling finishing, though in terms of having a terrific, eye-catching season, Hernández could easily give Bale a run for his money. Individual awards do not matter that much, in the general scheme of things, though at least if history repeats itself and United once again win all the prizes and see the player of the year award go to Tottenham, Ferguson could add a punchline to his favourite joke by bidding for Bale's services. He was never going to buy Ginola.