Klopp says Salah “absolutely deserves PFA Players’ Player of the Year award

Jürgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year award was fully deserved after another fantastic season from the Egyptian forward. Liverpool fell just short in the Premier League title race with Manchester City, missing out by a point, but Salah edged out Kevin De Bruyne for another individual accolade this week.

Salah’s gongs

The Egypt international scored 23 top-flight goals to share the Premier League Golden Boot with Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, while also claiming the Playmaker of the Season award for most assists. Salah added the Premier League Goal of the Season trophy to his haul, alongside the FWA, PFA Fans’ Player of the Year and PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards. No player in the Premier League could match the Liverpool talisman’s 36 goal involvements (23 goals, 13 assists), and manager Klopp believes his star forward deserved the accolade.

“What I really love about this prize is that it’s voted for by the players,” Klopp told Liverpool’s website. “That’s the one prize that you should be interested in. Whatever the supporters say, your own supporters always say, ‘Oh you’re the greatest’ and all the others say, ‘How can he win it?’ So, in Mo’s case obviously it’s the numbers, scoring goals. But scoring the most goals and having the most assists, with all the ups and downs during a season, all the things I know about football, that’s a deserved winner.”

Salah has been a standout performer since arriving from Roma in 2017, scoring 156 times for the Reds in 254 appearances. Klopp says it is Salah’s character that has led to his improvements and dominance in the English top flight.

“I was incredibly excited about the chance to work together with him. We spoke, yes, that was a very good talk but obviously we all need longer to know about a person,” he said of his initial impressions. “The moment I knew it will be outstanding [was] when I knew him as a person, because he’s full of desire, he never will stop developing and he’s a workhorse. I know we say it a lot but he’s really the first in – maybe around Millie [James Milner], maybe Millie beats him from time to time – and he’s the last out. So treatment, gym work, all these kinds of things. On the pitch, if you tell Mo because of the intensity of the games, ‘Mo, you go in now. Thank you very much’. ‘I’m good, I’m good, get me another 10 balls.’ So he deserves it absolutely, and that’s why he’s the second-time winner of this wonderful trophy. Well deserved, Mo, by the way!”