PFA Player of the Year: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr win 2022 awards | Football news

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr won the PFA Player of the Year 2022.

After narrowly missing out on his second Premier League title, striker Salah beat Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne to take home his second Player of the Year trophy.

The 29-year-old, who finished as the tournament’s top scorer, also saw off Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and teammates Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane to win the title and was also elected. selected to be part of the 2022 PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son, who shares the Golden Shoe with Salah, did not make the shortlist or the best XI.

Salah has scored 23 goals in the league and has 14 assists in the 2021/22 season, including a hat-trick and assist at Old Trafford as Liverpool beat rivals Manchester United by a scoreline. 5-0. The Egypt international also enjoyed League Cup and FA Cup success with Liverpool but narrowly missed out on Champions League and African Cup of Nations titles, losing both finals.

PFA members vote for the winners of each award, choosing the players they feel have had the best performance of the year. Salah is now one of only nine players in history to have won two PFA Player titles, along with Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lucy Bronze, Kevin De Bruyne and Fran Kirby.

Salah said: “It is a great honor to win a trophy, individually or collectively and this is a very big trophy, very happy and very proud of it.

“It’s a really good tournament to win, especially since it’s voted on by the players. It shows you that you worked really hard and that you achieved what you did. I I have my room with the trophies in the cupboard and I make sure I have another space for another.I always keep the space and just try to imagine that the trophies will come.

“As you get older you feel more settled and you know exactly what you want from football, so I’m just trying to really relax and help the team.

“That’s why I think I also win players because it’s like you understand the game better, so you just try to make the people around you better and try to make yourself good. than.”

Analysis: Salah joins elite with second win

Sky Sports’ Nick Wright:

Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lucy Bronze, Kevin De Bruyne and Fran Kirby. And now it’s Mohamed Salah. After his first success in the 2017/18 season, the only Egyptian became the ninth player to win the PFA Player of the Year award for the second time.

He is in good company and he certainly deserves his place there.

Salah couldn’t stop Liverpool from falling apart in the race to the Premier League title but his case for major individual awards is nonetheless a fascinating one.

Salah scored the most goals with 23 – sharing the golden boot with Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son – and provided the most assists. No one else has come close to his total of 36 goals, the 29-year-old accounting for almost 40% of Liverpool’s total.

The basic numbers put him in a league of his own.

Salah’s expected number of goals is the highest in the league and he is also the man with the most shots, on target and touches in the box. Only one player – Tottenham’s Harry Kane – created more big chances. Salah ranks among the best in terms of dribbling and open play opportunities are also created.

His sheer breadth of contributions makes him a worthy winner – and a worthy member of a select group of players that have won it twice.

Kerr becomes the first Australian to win the award

Golden Boot winner Sam Kerr becomes the first Australian footballer to win the award after being narrowly beaten by Chelsea teammate Fran Kirby in 2021.

The forward beat competition from Vivianne Miedema, Pernille Harder, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp and Kim Little to win this year’s trophy.

Kerr has scored 20 goals to become the top scorer for the Women’s Super League this season. She was instrumental in Emma Hayes’ domestic double win, scoring twice – including the one in extra time – as Chelsea beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup in a row.

The 28-year-old striker also scored twice in the final WSL game of the season against Manchester United, quelling Arsenal’s title hopes and helping Chelsea win a historic third consecutive title.

The fact that Kerr won her first PFA award makes her the first Australian woman to win a PFA award after Harry Kewell won Young Player of the Year in 2000. Kerr’s performance this year also proves made her the PFA WSL team of the year.

Kerr said: “I think it’s a great honor, whenever you are voted for by your peers. I think it’s the highest honor as a player, it’s a great feeling.”

When asked about some of her performances in the 2021/22 season, Kerr added: “I’ve done a lot as a player, sometimes it comes on and sometimes it doesn’t, but I think you have to see yourself in those moments.

“I really believe in myself. I’m very confident that in the 90th minute or whenever, the team will serve me and lean on me. Knowing that my teammates trust me gives me confidence. . I love those things. The big moments – that’s what I live for as a player.”

Analysis: Kerr is a well-deserved winner

Sky Sports’ Charlotte Marsh:

Another week, another title for Sam Kerr to find her footing – she already has the WSL title, the FA Cup, the WSL Golden Shoe and the FWA Women’s Player of the Season title this season.

She also deserves them. In a season that saw Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder and Bethany England in and out of the England squad through injury and illness, Kerr was always present for Chelsea and her offensive stats were among the best in the league.

She scores the most goals in the WSL (20), scores the most chances (11) and is second to Vivianne Miedema on shots (70) and shots on target (39).

What makes her scoring all the more impressive is that she hasn’t taken any penalties for Chelsea this season, with all of her goals coming from open play.

Her final four goals of the season alone have demonstrated her class and ability to perform in key moments. Kerr’s brace against Manchester United in the final WSL game of the season are two of the best goals you’ll see this year in any league.

Then, she scored the winning goal in extra time against Man City to once again prove that she is indispensable for the Blues. Although it was a team game, Kerr has effectively won both titles for Chelsea this season.

In interviews, she’s extremely likable but rather unassuming – her years at WSL have never seen her lose her laid-back Australian demeanor. But beneath the surface is one of the best strikers in women’s football and a winning mentality that can’t be deterred.

A true class player both on and off the pitch and a well-deserved winner.

Hodgson, Powell receive PFA certificate of merit

The 2022 PFA Awards honor two former England coaches, Roy Hodgson and Hope Powell, to receive the trophy for their outstanding contributions to football.

Hodgson announced his retirement last month after more than 40 years of football management. When presented with the award, he said: “It is an honor to receive this award, it is a surprise but it makes me even more grateful. By other professionals. It will take a place of pride.

“When you’ve had a long career and you’ve achieved some success with it, you have to look back with great gratitude and humility. You realize that there are many steps along the path that everyone takes. things went right for you, and I got that property that people need. I’ve always tried to do my job with passion, I have a certain enthusiasm and energy that I always try to bring back to the job and those two qualities are very important to anyone in football, whether a player, a manager or a coach.

“I will look back with immense gratitude and humility for what football has given me and it is wonderful to have a trophy which proves that people believed that I gave it back. something, I will cherish this trophy.”

Brighton coach Powell said: “It’s an honor to receive this trophy, I feel blessed and happy to be playing after so many years, really grateful.

“One of the exciting things about being in the game is the vast experience I’ve had over the years, whether as a player or as a manager at the FIFA World Cups, finals, and more. Europe or the Olympics and now at Brighton and Hove Albion each is very different but for the most part it is very exciting and I feel very fortunate and privileged to be in this position.

“I’ve never been afraid to question and challenge people, I think I helped shape the game and push it forward along with so many others. So I hope I’ll be remembered as I am. someone who is passionate and wants the best for women’s football at the local and national level.”