Premier League – Liverpool: Mohamed Salah voted best player of the season

Mohamed Salah takes the throne. Despite several disappointments at the end of the season with Liverpool, between a lost Premier League title and another defeat in the Champions League final against Real Madrid, the Egyptian was voted Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers’ Association on Thursday (PFA), the football players’ union in England.

The 29-year-old finished as the Premier League’s top scorer this season, with 23 goals, tied with Tottenham’s Korean striker Son Heung-min, and top assist provider with 13 assists. Already rewarded in 2018, he succeeds Kevin de Bruyne, the Belgian midfielder of Manchester City. “It’s always great to win trophies, whether individual or collective (…) This one is very important to win, especially because it is awarded by the players“, explained Salah in an interview filmed by the PFA.

City and Liverpool share the standard team

“As an individual, it shows you’ve worked very hard and you get what you’ve worked for, sort of“, he added. Although arriving 2nd in the championship, a point behind Manchester City, Liverpool provides half of the typical team of the season with six players including goalkeeper Alisson Becker, defenders Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, his midfielder Thiago Alcantara and his two star strikers, Sadio Mané and Salah.

City have to settle for three spots, with De Bruyne joined by Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva, while Chelsea’s Antonio Rüdiger and up-and-comer Cristiano Ronaldo complete the ideal XI. Among the women, it was Sam Kerr, the Australian Chelsea striker who won the league and cup double and finished top scorer with 20 goals in as many matches, who was crowned.

Pep Guardiola’s team will console themselves with the two awards for the best young people, Phil Foden being crowned in the men’s category and Lauren Hemp in the ladies’ category.

(With AFP)