CLEAN SWEEP!
Van Dijk wins Premier League’s Player of the Season to add to his PFA Players’ Player of the Season award
LIVERPOOL defender Virgil van Dijk has won another individual award for his outstanding season after being crowned the Premier League’s Player of the Season.
The Holland international has been Liverpool’s key player in their Premier League title charge throughout the 2018-19 campaign.
Van Dijk has played every Premier League match for Liverpool this season, missing only 35 minutes of the season so far and, alongside goalkeeper Alisson, has transformed Liverpool’s defence.
Van Dijk, 27, becomes the third defender to win the trophy after Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic and Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany.
The winner was decided by a mixture of votes from fans, the captains of the 20 Premier League clubs and a panel of football experts.
Liverpool have kept 20 clean sheets in 37 games so far this season, the same amount as City. Van Dijk has also scored four Premier League goals this season.
Last month, Van Dik edged Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Season award.
And yesterday’s announcement that he is Premier League Player of the Year means he follows in the footsteps of his Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah by winning both of the awards.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are interested in signing Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona if they can avoid a transfer ban this summer, according to reports in Spain.
The Blues are lining up new attacking options should playmaker Eden Hazard finally make his long trailed move to Real Madrid.
Coutinho, who has struggled to impress for Barca since moving from Liverpool in a transfer that cost a flat £106 million (RM573 million) and has various extra clauses that could cost the Nou Camp club further millions in the near future.
Spanish radio station Cadena
Ser report that only one Premier League club has shown an interest in signing Coutinho — Chelsea.
However, while the Blues have the resources to cover much of Barca’s original outlay and Coutinho’s wages, whether they will be allowed to spend this summer is another matter.
Chelsea have been imposed with a two-window transfer ban by Fifa after breaking rules surrounding the signings of under18 players.
The Blues lost their appeal to football’s governing body but are set to make their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in an attempt to overturn the sanction.
Despite the legal process being ongoing, Chelsea are still banned from signing players this summer — meaning Coutinho could be forced to extend his unhappy stay at the Nou Camp.
He has scored 21 goals in 74 appearances for the club, but has failed to fill either the boots of Neymar in an attacking role, nor Andres Iniesta in a play-making capacity.
Coutinho suffered further ignominy when his former club, Liverpool, dumped Barca out of the Champions League semi-finals last week.