It’s not long before we find out the PFA Player of the Year 2018 winner after the nominees were announced yesterday, so here at CaughtOffside we’ve put together our selections.
Read on to laugh, mock and be enraged by our writers’ choices for Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Team of the Year.
MORE: PFA Player of the Year nominees: Salah, De Bruyne in star-studded six-man shortlist
Yes, there’s a lot of love for Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, but we’ve got a couple of intriguing choices in there as well…
Player of the Year
The 2018 nominees for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year!@DeBruyneKev, @D_DeGea, @HKane, @22mosalah, @LeroySane19 and @21LVA
? #PFAawards pic.twitter.com/8zRqOmDXJZ
— PFA (@PFA) April 14, 2018
Mark Brus – Mohamed Salah
With one of the most memorable debut seasons in living memory, it’s hard to see past Mohamed Salah’s individual brilliance. Kevin De Bruyne is boosted by having lethal forwards around him to boost his assist numbers, not to mention world class quality in nearly every position in this Manchester City team. Salah is a unique talent and just edges it for me after making history for Liverpool – the most goals ever for a player in their debut season with the Reds, only the 8th player to score 30 in the Premier League era, and the most goals by an African player in a single season.
40 goals from a winger. What a player.
— Mark Brus (@mbrus88) April 14, 2018
Robert Summerscales – Mohamed Salah
Ron Carne – David de Gea
It’s unlikely that a goalkeeper would win it, but for me there’s no one more important to their respective club right now than David de Gea is to Manchester United. The Spanish shot-stopper has single-handedly kept United in so many games this season, with stats from the Telegraph recently showing he’d prevented close to 14 goals this term, most memorably perhaps in that win at Arsenal, when it’s hard to believe the home side didn’t score five against United that day.
De Gea deserves more recognition, not just for his form this season, but for the fact that he could well go down as one of the finest ‘keepers this country has ever seen.
Sam Wilkins – Kevin De Bruyne
Billy Hodder – Mohamed Salah
It is inevitably a two-horse race but Mohamed Salah has to edge it. If you take Kevin De Bruyne out of Manchester City this season you lose creativity in abundance. However, if you take Salah out of the Liverpool side you lose 30 goals, which is a far greater loss in the grand scheme of the Premier League. Salah is the perfect forward in the modern game as a fast and mobile attacker who is willing to press high up the pitch for 90 minutes. What a season from the Egyptian god.