Martin Keown has revealed that he would have voted for Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne rather than Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah to be crowned Player of the Year.
The former Arsenal defender shared that he thought if Manchester City are truly seen as one the greatest sides to win the Premier League, it only makes sense that one of their players wins the prestigious accolade.
“What more did Kevin De Bruyne have to do to be crowned Player of the Year?” questioned Keown in his column for the Daily Mail.
“If I was still playing he would have had my vote, only a few weeks ago we were all hailing Manchester City as one of the greatest sides to win the Premier League.
“If that is the case, it must follow that the beating heart of that team should win the top individual accolades.
“The most coveted players are always the goalscorers and Mohamed Salah has been chillingly brilliant in front of goal.”
Salah was named the PFA Player of the Year on Sunday after scoring 41 goals in 46 appearances in his debut season for the Reds.
While Keown admitted that the 25-year-old winger wouldn’t have gotten his vote, he went on to admit that he has to respect the decision of those that voted.
OPINION
De Bruyne could have easily been crowned PFA Player of the Year, but it’s hard to deny that Salah deserved the accolade when you look at his stats. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that the winger, who once struggled to feature for Chelsea, has scored 41 goals in his first season at Anfield. Salah has also improved as the season has gone on as at the start of the campaign he was very wasteful with his chances in front of goal. The winger still regularly managed to get goals for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but he could easily had more from the opening weeks of the current campaign. While the 25-year-old could still yet lift the Champions League trophy with the Reds this season, if they fail to do so, at least he will end up with some form of accolade to represent his fabulous season.