Suarez wins PFA player of the year award

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez won England's Professional Footballers' Association's Player of the Year award on Sunday.

This time last year the Uruguay international was starting a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

But now Suarez has been chosen by his fellow top-flight professionals in England as the outstanding player in the Premier League after spearheading Liverpool's title bid.

Suarez received the award during a ceremony at London's Grosvenor House hotel after flying down from Liverpool following a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea at Anfield that dented the Merseysiders' challenge for a first English title in the Premier League era.

The 27-year-old Suarez has scored 30 league goals in 31 appearances, despite his ban for biting Ivanovic carrying over into the start of this season.

"The Premier League is full of really great players and so it is a great honour when these players recognise your work on the pitch," said Suarez, who threatened to leave Liverpool at one stage after claiming Reds manager Brendan Rodgers had gone back on a deal to let him move to a Champions League club.

However, Suarez added Sunday: "I always try my best for the team and it is nice to get awards but really this is for my teammates and the staff at Liverpool because without their help I wouldn't have this prize."

Chelsea's Eden Hazard, who didn't play at Anfield due to injury, was named the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Suarez and Liverpool strike partner Daniel Sturridge were both included in the PFA Premier League team of the year, also chosen by their fellow top-flight professionals in England.

The duo were joined by Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard in the XI.

Chelsea also had three players in the PFA side in goalkeeper Petr Cech, defender Gary Cahill and Hazard.

Title-chasers Manchester City were represented by Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure while the Southampton duo of Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana were also included, with Everton right-back Seamus Coleman in the XI.

However, no players from soon to be dethroned champions Manchester United or Arsenal were in the select side.

PFA Premier League team of the year: Petr Cech (Chelsea); Luke Shaw (Southampton), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Seamus Coleman (Everton); Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Yaya Toure (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton); Luis Suarez (Liverpool), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)

Comments

Mario Balotelli: AC Milan reject claims the striker is about to leave

AC Milan have released a statement to deny speculation that Italy striker Mario Balotelli could leave in January. They were responding to reports in Italy that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi had decided to sell him. "AC Milan firmly and absolutely deny statements that have been attributed to the chairman about Mario Balotelli being put on the transfer list," the Serie A club's statement said . The ex-Man City striker has scored six goals in 12 league games this season. He moved to the San Siro in January for an initial fee of 22m euros (£19m). Last season he racked up 12 goals for the seven-time European champions in only 13 Serie A appearances.

Al-Jazeera demands Egypt release four journalists

Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera has demanded the release of four of its journalists seized by Egyptian police in Cairo at the weekend. They include its Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and former BBC correspondent Peter Greste. The journalists had held illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, the interior ministry said. Al-Jazeera said it had been "subject to harassment" although not officially banned from working in Egypt. There has been a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi in July. Last week it was declared a terrorist group. In the past six months, more than 1,000 pro-Morsi protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces, and thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested, including the majority of its leadership. A court will hear a case to disband the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on 15 February. 'Arbitrary' The four journ...

Obama in Saudi Arabia for talks overshadowed by mistrust

US President Barack Obama sought Friday to allay Riyadh’s criticism of his policies on Syria and Iran, telling the Saudi king their two countries remain in lockstep on their strategic interests. He also assured King Abdullah that the U.S. won’t accept a bad deal” with Iran, as global powers negotiate a treaty reining in Tehran’s controversial nuclear program. The president underscored how much he values this strategic relationship,” a senior U.S. official said, after Obama met for some two hours with the king on a royal estate outside Riyadh. In an interview aired on U.S. television later Friday, Obama defended his administration’s decision not to use military force in Syria, saying that the United States has its limits. The U.S. leader’s comments came in an interview taped ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia, which was angered by his eleventh-hour decision last year to pull back from strikes against the Syrian regime over its use of chemical weapons in the country’s civil wa...

INITZA.COM

Search This Blog