Kevin De Bruyne Voted PFA Men's Player of the Year
Manchester City and Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruyne have won the Professional Footballers’ Association men’s Players’ Player of the Year award. The 29-year-old appreciated head coach manager Pep Guardiola for helping him earn the honour, saying “he just lets me be me”. England 26-year-old international Beth won the women’s award having helped Chelsea do the Women’s Super League and League Cup double.
Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, 21, won the men’s Young Player of the Year award, while Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford won a PFA merit award for his work combating child food poverty. De Bruyne beat last year’s winner Virgil van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold, Sadio Mane, Henderson and City team-mate Raheem Sterling to the award which was voted by fellow players.
The Belgian is the first Manchester City player to win the award since its inception at the end of the 1973-74 season. “This is a big honour,” he said. “To be voted by your colleagues, competitors from other teams who you always play against on the field. That they vote for you for the best player; it’s amazing. He also said: “It’s maybe strange that I’m the first one at City, seeing all the good players who played there before and who are still playing. But it’s nice to represent the club.”
Concerning his coach, he said: “He gives me a lot of freedom; I don’t know why that’s just the way it goes between us.” “He knows in one way I will always put the team first and then obviously if I can help myself I’m going to do that. He trusts me completely.” For the third consecutive year, the top award for the men’s category went to a player whose team did not win the Premier League title.