Mohamed Salah has added the Premier League’s Player of the Season award to his collection of individual accolades after a remarkable debut campaign at Liverpool.
Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in June in a deal which could eventually reach €50-million, having established himself as something of a rising star in Serie A.
Some had reservations about his signing given a previous underwhelming spell in England with Chelsea and Liverpool’s owner John W. Henry suggested they had overpaid, according to Roma president James Pallotta.
But his impact has been exceptional: Salah scored 43 times in 50 appearances across all competitions, with his haul of 31 strikes seeing him level the record for most goals in a single 38-match Premier League season, meaning he will set a new one if he scores in Sunday’s clash with Brighton and Hove Albion.
The 25-year-old’s brilliant form saw him pip Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year award, and he was then named the Football Writers’ Association’s (FWA) Footballer of the Year.
Congratulations to the @EASPORTSFIFA Player of the Season @MoSalah!#PLAwards pic.twitter.com/xg0JuyVy0M
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 13, 2018
And now the Premier League has recognised Salah’s fine season by giving him another award, as the winger acknowledged a desire to prove a point has been a driving force for him.
‘I am very happy, I am very proud to win it,’ he told the Premier League’s official website.
‘They say I didn’t have success here the first time, so it was always in my mind to have success here in the Premier League.’
Salah beat De Bruyne, David de Gea, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and James Tarkowski to the award.