"He deserves it" - Jurgen Klopp on Mohamed Salah winning PFA Player of the Year

Jurgen Klopp believes that Mohamed Salah "deserved" to win the PFA Premier League Player of the Year award after his performances last season. 

Speaking to PFA, as quoted by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, the German said that despite opposition fans thinking the winger doesn't deserve the award, the fact the players vote on it proves he is a worthy winner.

“What I really love about this prize is that it’s voted for by the players. That’s the one prize that you should be interested in. So in Mo’s case it’s the numbers, scoring goals, but with all the ups and downs from a season, that’s a deserved win," said Klopp.

"Whatever the supporters say. Your own supporters always say ‘you’re the greatest’ and all the others say ‘how can he win it'.

"He deserves it absolutely, and that’s why he’s the second time winner of this wonderful trophy. Well deserved, Mo, by the way!”

Anfield Watch Verdict

There has been a lot of debate on whether Salah deserved to win the PFA Player of the Year award, especially after Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne won the Premier League EA Sports Player of the Season.

Anyone who follows football knows that the PFA Player of the Year award is the most credible individual accolade.

It's the most recognised and it's also the only one that is voted on by Premier League footballers, managers and professional sports journalists.

Most of the other awards are fan-voted, which we all know comes with a lot of recency bias.

Nearly every Liverpool fan would agree that after the turn of the year Salah wasn't great. Most will even agree that De Bruyne was a lot better during the last four to five months of the campaign.

However, the season isn't just about the final few months and you'd be hard-pressed to find a player in world football who was performing better than Salah in the first-half of the season.