Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been named the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Player of the Year with a record percentage of the votes going to the Egyptian after another stellar campaign.
Salah has scored and assisted a total of more than 50 goals for Liverpool so far under Arne Slot. He has become a Premier League champion for the second time and recently penned new terms that will keep him at Anfield for another two years.
Salah, 32, becomes only the second player to win the award three times, matching Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. Arsenal striker Alessia Russo has also been crowned the Women’s Footballer of the Year in what was a much tighter race.
Salah has 46 goal involvements for Liverpool so far this season in the Premier League (28 goals and 18 assists). The competition record is 47 (set by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer), so Salah has three games left to break it and move ahead of the pair.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was closest to Salah in the voting. Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak came third, with Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice in fourth.
“It is incredible to win this with our fans,” Salah said live on Sky Sports when the Premier League title was confirmed. “This is 100 per cent better than last time, especially with the fans.
(Image: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
“We have a different group now so to show we can do it again is something special.”
“You can see the numbers,” Salah said. “Now I don’t have to defend much. The tactics are quite different. I said, ‘As long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively.’
“So I am glad that I did. He listened a lot and you can see the numbers.
“When you play in the Premier League you have to defend but I said that I can gamble and somehow I can make a difference. My number of assists shows that, you can create chances as well.”
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“This is the most beautiful club in the world,” Van Dijk said. “We deserve this. We are going to enjoy the next couple of weeks and take it in. I was desperate to win it for them [the fans] and all the fans around the world, and for us as well.”
“It was a different style of play then [in 2020],” Andy Robertson added. “It was high energy, high press. But this team is a bit more controlled.
“But from a manager’s point of view the key things are the same. The consistency has been there for both teams and that is what has got us over the line.”
