^^

I believe salah was chosen because he performed when it mattered which was the UCL quarter. If city had advanced I would bet my money on bruyne winning it.

Possibly the hardest and closest poty in recent history.

Trust me, nobody would have loved more than me to see De Bruyne win such a trophy but truth is, stat are paramount in that kind of competition. Salah scored 31 goal and assisted 9 while De Bruyne scored 8 and assisted 15. Thats 40 vs 23. Its also worth noting foward (especially prolific one) tend to win those award more often than midfielder. Despite this, I agree with Spectre, it must have been really hard to chose to be fair. At the very least, Leroy Sane won the young player of the year award. :)

KDB kinda disappeared later in the season when City had the league in the bag, didn't perform that good in UCL so that's probably what made the difference imo. I think first half was definitely KDB, but Salah 2nd half was even better.

KDB didnt disappear. He was still assisting left and right. He plays as a deep midfielder behind Silva and Salah plays forward, so obviously Salah is going to have much better stats when it comes to goals, but look at KDB highest assists in the league by far, amount of passes, pass accuracy, chances creates, and also his defensive work like interceptions and pressuring the opponent midfield to make them lose the ball and let city keep dominating possession.

KDB didn't play bad vs Liverpool at all. Yes City lost but its not his fault that his team defense shoots themselves in the foot 3 times in the first leg. If Liverpool go on to win the UCL with goals from Salah, then yes, I would say Salah deserved it, but otherwise I am sure that KDB was the better player over the season, but Salah won because of peoples' "MORE GOALS = BETTER" mentality.

@T1lt3d Well, to win in football, you need to score goal. Heck, if De Bruyne have had a more assist, then he might gotten chosen over Salah but he had to share assist a lot with Silva, a bit like a striker who play in a 4-4-2 must share some of his possible goal with another player. De Bruyne is punished by the fact there are so many other talented player in City with whom he have to share his assist and his goal. The two other best player in the league when it come to assist are Sane and Silva. :(

I believe salah was chosen because he performed when it mattered which was the UCL quarter. If city had advanced I would bet my money on bruyne winning it.

RIP FR forum !

but otherwise I am sure that KDB was the better player over the season, but Salah won because of peoples' "MORE GOALS = BETTER" mentality.

This, but also that people expected seasons like this out of KDB. Salah came from literally nowhere to pull this off, which makes it seem even more impressive. Which it is, but still.

Think KDB should've won it personally.

This award is for Premier League. Why involve CL in the discussion? Salah bagged a ton of goals against mediocre teams. De Bruyne has shown consistency throughout the entire season, and he has clearly shone as the best player on a very talented Manchester City squad. To be the best player on such a squad by such a margin is no joke. Moreover, De Bruyne performed in key matches throughout the year (scored vs. Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, played well in all the matches he didn't score goals).

As much sh*t as Spanish football fans receive for narrowing down the Messi vs. Ronaldo argument to just goals, that's all I hear from the Salah > De Bruyne argument. My Player of the Year in the PL was definitely KDB, although I acknowledge that Salah is a clear-cut 2nd place.

Harry Kane also deserves a shout-out.

I don't know if pfa considers champions league performance as well. if it is then salah, if it is just down to epl, then it's kdb. but again like others have said. are goals everything that matters? or assist and chance created also counts? the fact that kante won it last season ahead of hazard and kane means tackling, passing and interception should be considered too. I don't mind salah winning it, but there is no break down on criteria which made the voting looks like it's decided by feeling.

I agree with the 3 above me. Salah was by far the most clinical player in the league, but not the best. If he had a mediocre front line and midfield to play with, he wouldn't have nearly as many goals. KDB has most assists in the league by far, but if you look at his "semi-assists", (as in playing a ball through the whole defense and then the player he passed it to can just play a ball across the box and its an easy tapin) its even more impressive. Those don't count as assists, but he is the one that creates those goals.

Also, look at his screamers vs Leicester, Chelsea, Swansea, Arsenal, etc. He may not score that much, but when he does, its a bloody amazing goal.

Also, don't be biased by my picture, but I think Ederson should have won young player award. After Bravo tried playing Sweeper Keeper in the PL and failed, people thought that it wouldn't work in the PL, but he showed up out of nowhere and proved everyone wrong. His kicking is amazing, also. Although he doesnt have an assist yet there has been multiple goals this season that happened because he played a pinpoint ball from a corner or goalkick and set up the counter attack.

His actual saving abilities are great also, he is the only keeper this year to save 100% of penalties in the PL, and 75% in all comps.
While I think that De Gea is a better shot-stopper than him, I would say Ederson is a better all-round keeper than De Gea.

ederson wins de gea in terms of distribution and starting atk from the back. de gea wins ederson in terms of saves. goalkeeper main role is a shot stopper so I am cool with de gea included in pfa team of the year ahead of ederson. without de gea, I am not so sure mourinho's current defence can bring him to 2nd place.

Kinda suprised to see the popular opinion is that KDB should have won it but I will say like Sun, propably one of the reason is because nobody expected Salah to come and be so good. The suprise no doubt played a part. Anyway, lets do a Footyroom best player of the year vote:

While I think that De Gea is a better shot-stopper than him, I would say Ederson is a better all-round keeper than De Gea.

Does De Gea win United more points than Ederson wins City? When put like this it is a very easy equation. You will find very little support for a Ederson is better than De Gea argument, here or anywhere else, because there is very little statistical and zero anecdotal evidence to support it.

Well City dominate possession and United don't so obviously Ederson will be called upon much less because the opposition has much less shots. You can't say that Ederson is worse just because he plays for a more dominant team. Ederson has saved City many times this season, such as his last minute Penalty save to save city a point vs CP, his 2 world class saves vs Burnley, his double save vs United which gave City the win, etc.
Most times that Ederson actually has something to save, its from City being caught on the counterattack, which are a lot harder to save than the longshots that De Gea saves.

You can see how key Ederson is to City because of how they played without him last season. Bravo was the main reason city were poor last season, and Ederson came in and solved the issue completely.

While De Gea is better at saving than Ederson, which is arguable the most important, Ederson is still great a shotstopping too, but he has better kicking and distribution, commanding his area, and sweeper keeping than De Gea, which makes up for it? If you have a team that concedes a lot shots, then De Gea is better for that, but for a team like City that plays a really high line and needs an 11th man to sweep through balls and play the ball, Ederson is better.

BTW, I never said Ederson should have been in TOTS, just should have won best young player imo.

How many World Player of the Year awards have gone to forwards/strikers or those who scored the most goals in a time frame?

As awesome as Salah has been this season, the MVP in my book was KDB. I think had he of had more assists to make the numbers closer, goals or not, it would have tipped the table in his favor. 40 to 23 just jumps out at you in the world of statistics.

Salah deserves it . It would have been greatest injustice if Salah didn't win/ As Chelsea fan, I was fine with either one winning it. They were our ex players so kind of we won too :D

However...

15 assists is great but nothing extraordinary. De Bruyne is an amazing player who has an amazing squad around him. it is easier to shine with a squad like that who read his passes well and get in the end of it to score. Easy to play with attacking partners like Gundogan and Silva and feeding players like Aguero and Sane or Jesus. Place him in the Liverpool and try creating something out of nothing every game with players who at times kick the ball and run type. That is what Salah does for you. 31 goals and 9 assists as a winger. Beat that mate. Fantastic player who is sort of dragging Liverpool.

It is like dejavu of the time when Suarez used to play for Liverpool and was underrated. Once again people don't appreciate the fact that Salah is playing not for billion dollar team City but for Liverpool where Jordan Henderson is your deep-laying playmaker and captain for God sake and his striking partner is at times Danny Ings!!

Most times that Ederson actually has something to save, its from City being caught on the counterattack, which are a lot harder to save than the longshots that De Gea saves.

If you want to look at it like that, compare saves De Gea makes with saves Ederson makes directly over the course of the season. There is no argument here at all, so I won't go in depth.

You can see how key Ederson is to City because of how they played without him last season. Bravo was the main reason city were poor last season, and Ederson came in and solved the issue completely.

Bravo has literally the worst save percentage in Premier League history. Not tough to upgrade from that. He was so poor that City played Cabellero quite often, and this is even ignoring that the City squad last season had much bigger problems that their keeper, namely in the fullback position (where they spent 100m over the summer to upgrade).

I'm not aruging that Ederson is a good, possibly even great a keeper. But he does not display the talents that make De Gea the absolute world-class netminder he is. With Neuer missing the entire season, De Gea is undisputed the best keeper in the world by all accounts. When players, pundits, or fans discuss the best keepers in the world, Ederson is rarely given a mention. There's a reason for that, and that's because he allows goals that De Gea doesn't.

Since we're on the topic actually, it's fair to look at Ederson through the same lens as Ter Stegen, since they are very similar players. Ter Stegen was benched for a time by Barca last season for allowing some soft goals, despite his distribution from the back being among, if not the best in the world. This season, he has improved his shot-stopping dramatically, and with his distribution now is the uncontested starter for Barcelona. Ederson has the same passing qualities that Ter Stegen does, but does not follow this up with the shot-stopping ability. When he does, I will be the first to recognize it.