Striker Mead is nominated for top two PFA awards
Sunderland Ladies striker Beth Mead has a double nomination in this year’s PFA awards.
Last season’s top scorer in WSL1 is nominated in both the Women’s Players’ Player of the Year and the Women’s Young Player of the Year Award.
And she must have a great chance of scooping both awards.
At the end of last season, the speedy forward won both the WSL Players’ Player of the Year award as well as the FA Young England Player of the Year award.
This season is barely under way - so not a lot has changed, though Mead is already back in the goals having scored against Reading both in the 1-1 league draw and the 3-0 FA Cup quarter-final victory.
Sunderland play their semi-final on SunMeaDday at Arsenal.
Last year’s Women’s Players’ Player of the Year Ji SoYun is back in the running for this year’s award along with Chelsea Ladies team-mates Hedvig Lindahl and Gemma Davison, and Manchester City Women’s Izzy Christiansen.
The other nominations up against Mead in the Young Player of the Year Award are City duo Nikita Parris and Keira Walsh, Chelsea’s Hannah Blundell and Arsenal Ladies’ Danielle Carter.
In the men’s game, striker Jamie Vardy and midfielderds Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante have all been recognised for their role in Leicester’s Barclays Premier League title charge by being named on the shortlist for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.
The Foxes trio make up half of the six-man shortlist for the award, which is voted for by their peers, with Tottenham’s 22-goal striker Harry Kane, Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil and West Ham’s Dimitri Payet the other names in the frame to succeed 2015 winner Eden Hazard.
Kane is also in contention to retain the Young Player of the Year gong he won 12 months ago.
He features on a six-player shortlist alongside Spurs team-mate Dele Alli, Everton duo Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, Stoke’s Jack Butland and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho.
The winners for each category will be announced on Sunday, April 24,.