Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah leads the list of six finalists for the PFA Player of the Year Award, which was unveiled on Saturday. Salah is considered the favorite, with his chief competition coming from Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Two of De Bruyne’s teammates, Leroy Sane and David Silva, also made the short list.
In a show of tremendous class and elite sportsmanship, De Bruyne revealed his vote for Player of the Year, and it was in fact, Mo Salah. If the award doesn’t go to Salah or De Bruyne, the dark horse candidates, rounding out the six man list, are Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea and Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane.
The 2018 nominees for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year!
@DeBruyneKev, @D_DeGea, @HKane, @22mosalah, @LeroySane19 and @21LVA
? #PFAawards pic.twitter.com/8zRqOmDXJZ
— Professional Footballers’ Association (@PFA) April 14, 2018
Kane’s candidacy is hurt by the time he missed, but the two time reigning Golden Boot award winner still has a chance of catching Salah for his straight honor. He’s now four goals, instead of five behind the Liverpool winger, after Tottenham successfully lobbied the Football Association to have a Christian Eriksen goal credited to him. This development seemingly surprised Salah.
As for De Gea, he might be the best goalkeeper alive right now, but it can still be very tough for any keeper to win this award. Also, Manchester City may have currently lost three in a row, but that shouldn’t detract from what an amazing season they have had.
The fact that half the short list is City players (and half the young player player of the year list as well), certainly speaks to their elite campaign.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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