Spain reign to continue as Herrera gets Player of the Year
ANDER Herrera became the second successive Spaniard to win the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award.
The United midfielder edged Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Valencia to end David de Gea’s hat-trick of triumphs at the annual awards do.
Reacting to his award, Herrera said: “It’s very special for me to win this award because when you see the list you know how important it is and, of course, I stop David and the trophy stays in Spain as well.
“I feel it. I’m very thankful but I think a Man United player can never stop, we have to give all the affection back because you can see we don’t always perform at our best and we have to keep giving them affection.
“The most important game of the season next week, we can make a great season, if we win it, win three titles, so massive game but we have to respect the opponent. I will find a place for the trophy.”
De Gea added: “He’s an amazing player, top guy, a good friend but he’s an emotional player, he plays with his heart on the pitch. He’s a good player, to be fair!”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan received the Goal of the Season award for his scorpion flick against Sunderland on Boxing Day.
“To be honest, I was impressed as well!” he beamed. “I couldn’t imagine I could score such a goal. I didn’t really know what was happening.
“I don’t think you have to practice these kind of goals, you just have to take this quick decision.
“I couldn’t miss this opportunity because I got a great goal from the God [Zlatan Ibrahimovic].”
Axel Tuanzebe, who won the Jimmy Murphy award two years ago, claimed a double by claiming the Denzil Haroun Reserves Player of the Year.
The 19-year-old has started United’s last three league games and said: “That is the dream [to be a first-team regular], to be a leader and role model at this club, winning this is an honour for me, and I’ve got to thank the coaching staff, Nicky especially, for helping me to develop.
“I think it’s been a tough one, starting off with such a small squad in the reserves, and we’ve had to grind through, we’ve had injuries, missing RoShaun [Williams], but it’s finished positively.
“The manager has shown faith in me. I’ve been helped by youngsters like Marcus and Jesse, who’ve taken me under their wing.
“You always have an end goal to what you want to achieve but it’s showing the manager what you’re capable of.
“It’s always a dream to play for your parent club.
“Nicky Butt’s joined in training a couple of times and he’s been very good. Just a bit out of breath but he’s all right.”