Mohamed Salah Wins PFA Player of the Year Award

Mohamed Salah’s record-breaking debut season with the Reds continues apace with the Egyptian bringing home the PFA Player of the Year award on Sunday night. He beat out some incredibly talented players to take home the trophy — most notably Manchester City midfield powerhouse Kevin de Bruyne. While De Bruyne’s efforts to secure City’s league title would have been enough to earn the prize in another year, there was simply no beating Mohamed Salah this time.

Salah’s speed on the wing, his instantaneous partnership upfront with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané, and his ruthless goal-scoring instincts have made him an unstoppable force for Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp this season. He’s managed an astonishing 41 goals and 13 assists in 46 matches in all competitions so far. His £36.9million price tag looks like pocket change compared to the impossibly high output he’s given his team this season. Still only in his first year with Liverpool, Salah is already on his way to legendary status.

This award, chosen by players and professionals, is the latest in a long list of individual honors that Salah has picked up this year.

Earlier, he won the African Player of the Year award, beating out Liverpool teammate Sadio Mané for the honor. As the precursor to that, he won the BBC African Footballer of the Year award as well. He’s also taken home the Premier League Player of the Month award three times, and the Liverpool Player of the Month award six times this season.

In addition to these accolades, Salah has also tied the Premier League record for most goals scored by a player in a 38-game season, netting 31 goals with three league games still to play. He’s overtaken Didier Drogba’s 29 goals to become the highest scoring African player in a single season. He’s also now scored in 23 separate league games this season, which is another record — again, with three league matches still remaining.

Despite all of that, Salah still has plenty left to accomplish. On an individual level, one more goal in the league will break the all-time record, wresting it from Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Luis Suarez. His 41 goals also put him only six away from reaching Ian Rush’s Liverpool record of 47 goals scored in all competitions. Reaching that milestone seemed absurd even one month ago, but it doesn’t feel so ridiculous anymore.

He is now the clear front runner for the Premier League Golden Boot, ahead of second place Harry Kane by five goals, and he’s also leading the way for the European Golden Shoe.

With the club, there’s still the Premier League top four left to secure, and tantalizingly, a sixth Champions League trophy to battle for. This will provide Salah with a new challenge, as he’ll face off against his former team, AS Roma, who rightly continue to adore the Egyptian, in Liverpool’s first Champions League semi-final match in over a decade.

It’s the end of April, there’s only a handful of games left, but Mo Salah’s earth-shattering season is far from over. There’s plenty more work to be done, but we fans should take a deep breath and stop to recognize how lucky we are to be experiencing this season with this phenomenal player.