Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year for the 2017-18 season.
The Egypt international saw off competition from the Manchester City
trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and David Silva to become the second
African player to win the award after Riyad Mahrez of Leicester in
2016. Tottenham’s Harry Kane came third, with De Bruyne second.
Salah, who moved to Anfield from Roma last June for a club record fee of
£36.9m, has scored 41 goals in his debut season as Jürgen Klopp’s side
have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Salah was presented with the award at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on
Sunday evening, with City’s winger Sane voted as young player of the
year.
“It’s an honour to win this award especially because it was voted for by the other players,” said Salah.
“I would like to thank my teammates and everyone at the club for helping me to make this happen.”
Asked what it meant to become the first Egyptian to win the award, he
said: “Hopefully I’m not the last one. I’m very proud to win and I’ve
worked very hard.”
Fran Kirby, who played in Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat in the first leg of the
Women’s Champions League semi-final on Sunday, won the women’s player of
the year award. Bristol City’s Lauren Hemp was named young player of
the year.
The PFA’s Merit award went posthumously to Cyrille Regis, the former
West Brom forward who died aged 59 in January. The award was recognition
of Regis’ pioneering role in changing attitudes towards black
footballers in England.
While not unexpected given his stunning debut season at Anfield, Salah
faced strong competition from the Belgium international De Bruyne, who
has been the standout player for the champions.
Speaking after their 5-0 victory over Swansea on Sunday, Manchester
City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, had backed his midfielder for the award.
“If he doesn’t win, then congrats to the guy that wins,” he said.
“But in my opinion there is no player better than him in terms of continuity, every three days, competitions, three days.
“Maybe the numbers say someone is better than him but this season there
has been no one better than him. That’s my opinion but players can have
another one. But in the end, in the summertime, we will be at home being
champions.”
Sane hails ‘best coach’ Guardiola
Manchester City playmaker Leroy Sane has hailed Pep Guardiola as the
“best coach in the world”, crediting the manager for improving the
team’s overall performance which culminated in their Premier League
triumph this season.
German Sane has been key to City’s title charge this campaign, with
the 22-year-old scoring nine goals and providing 12 assists which also earned him the
PFA’s Young Player of the Year award.
“He is, for me, the best coach in the world,” Sane told Sky Sports of Guardiola.
“Everyone can see that we’ve improved a lot and have taken the next
step. He always tries to get the best and show us the way to play good
football.”
Sane, who joined City in 2016, also described the team as “perfect” and credited their efforts in helping him win the award.
“I’m really grateful because the team is perfect,” Sane added. “They are all really good guys and we work really hard.
“To play with fantastic players like we have in our team is great.
Thankfully the club gave me the chance to do it and I enjoy it a lot.”
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates with the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year trophy.