PFA Player of the Year: Who Should Win?

The PFA Players’ Player of the Year is an annual award given to the best Premier League player of the season. On April 20, the nominees for the ‘18-19 season were released. It included Liverpool forward Sadio Mané and defender Virgil van Dijk, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, and Manchester City trio of Raheem Sterling, Sergio Agüero, and Bernardo Silva. The nominations and award winner are voted by footballers playing in the Premier League.

The favorites to win the award are Virgil van Dijk and Raheem Sterling. Virgil van Dijk is playing his first full season in a Liverpool shirt after his record-breaking £75 million transfer from Southampton and has been a consistent and reliableplayer this season. Chester Poon (10C) was in full praise of van Dijk’s qualities, stating, “van Dijk is a very important defender for Liverpool. It’s because of him that Liverpool are on top of the Premier League [as of April 27], not because they have a very strong [forward] line…He’s tall, he’s fast, he can shoot too, so he’s a key player in the squad.” Raheem Sterling has contributed to 27 goals in 32 appearances with a 51% shooting accuracy, which are stunning statistics given that he is a winger. His year has stood out in particular, not because of his on-pitch performances, but rather his work off the pitch. He has become an advocate against racism in the sport, making a stand against racist abuse towards players across the footballing world, including himself.

Hazard has the joint most goal contributions of in the Premier League (as of April 27) with 29 goals and assists, on par with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. Sadió Mané has scored 20 goals this season, a personal best for the Senegalese forward, who has been Liverpool’s main talisman forward for the past few months. Bernardo Silva has been Manchester City’s utility man, playing on his natural winger position, while also comfortably slotting into the center of midfield whenever he is needed. He has been lauded this season for his technical skill, creativity, and especially his work rate, which is shown in a season-record 13.7km covered in a single match. Sergio Agüero continues his emphatic goal-scoring form, recording 20 goals so far in the domestic campaign. His back-to-back hat-tricks against Arsenal and Chelsea stood out in particular.
Chester believed that Manchester United’s Paul Pogba should have been one of the PFA Player of the Year nominees, explaining, “Under Mourinho, he was [mismanaged]. But after Solskjær took over, Pogba has scored the most goals and is one of the most stable players in the squad. He controls the midfield.”

Both Isaac Ma (10B) and Chester believe that Agüero should win the award. “Agüero is a very consistent goalscorer and he carries his team. He only needs a few passes and he’ll score,” described Chester. Isaac added on stating, “His form has been fantastic this season. He has scored a lot of goals, he works really hard, and I love his personality on the field.”
On the contrary, Ken Kim (12B) firmly stands with Virgil van Dijk winning the award. “This man costs [Liverpool] a lot of money, but he has singlehandedly changed the entire defense. It went from being the most unstable to the most stable defense in the League. He should win the award regardless of whether Liverpool win the league title.”

Featured Image – PFA Player of the Year Nominees 2019Photo Courtesy of Sportskeeda

by Luke Chong