Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has explained who out of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne deserves to win PFA Player of the Year.
Both look the two stand-out candidates to win the prize this season after their outstanding individual displays for two of the top teams in the Premier League.
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De Bruyne has been instrumental in City’s success under Pep Guardiola, with the Belgian’s creativity making the team tick as they look set to run away with the title.
Salah, meanwhile, has remarkably shot himself to the top of the league’s scoring charts with 28 strikes to his name despite playing out wide for Liverpool.
In their own ways, both have been an absolutely joy to watch throughout the season, but Merson believes it is the Egyptian who currently deserves to be crowned the country’s best player.
The pundit says De Bruyne has gone off the boil slightly recently and that he doesn’t score quite enough given his role.
‘Normally I would go for the best player in the best team – and that would be Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City,’ Merson wrote in his column in the Daily Star.
‘But I just think De Bruyne has dropped off a bit recently and what Salah is doing is phenomenal. He’s going to win the Golden Boot playing on the wing. How many players ever do that?
‘I think Salah is the best runner off the ball in the world. When he goes, he GOES. He bursts away from people.
‘And to score 28 league goals already this season, playing where he does, is absolutely sensational. A lot of them he’s made on his own as well.’