August 20 – Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has won the PFA player of the year award for the third time. The Egyptian claimed the award yesterday evening at the PFA awards in London, having also got his hands on the Premier League title, the golden boot and the top assists award from last season after he scored 29 goals and tallied 18 assists.
He also broke the record for the most goal involvements (47) in a 38-game Premier League season.
The evening also saw Aston Villa’s England international Morgan Rogers pick up the Young Player of the Year award, beating out the likes of Arsenal duo Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, former Bournemouth pair Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez and Liam Delap, Who earned a move to Chelsea after catching the eye at Ipswich.
Rogers, who turned 23 in July, scored eight times and notched 11 assists across 37 games in the top flight last season.
Other former winners of the award include Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale. Rogers said he wants to be one of the “incredible players people speak about”.
“Later down the line, I want to be one of those incredible players people speak about, so to do that I have to do what they did and what they followed after,” he told BBC Sport.
“It’s a nice recognition but there’s more to win and I can’t wait.”
It is the seventh successive year that an English player has won the award, following on from Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden (2), Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling.
Arsenal and Liverpool dominated the PFA Team of the Year, see below:
Goalkeeper:
Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)
Defenders:
William Saliba (Arsenal)
Gabriel (Arsenal)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Milos Kerkez (Bournemouth, now Liverpool)
Midfielders:
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Forwards:
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)
Other winners from the night include Arsenal midfielder Mariona Caldentey, who was named the Professional Footballers’ Association women’s player of the year, with her new team-mate Olivia Smith awarded the young player award.
Former England coach Gareth Southgate became the fifth former England manager to win the merit award since it was established in 1974.
During his eight-year tenure, which ran from 2016 to 2024, Southgate took England to four major tournaments – reaching the finals at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 and the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup. Despite this relative success, England’s men are still searching for a major European or world title to add to the 1966 World Cup win.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1755691293labto1755691293ofdlr1755691293owedi1755691293sni@g1755691293niwe.1755691293yrrah1755691293