Premier League's Team of the Year prediction as Mo Salah importance becomes clearer

This week, the voting for the Football Writers Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year will close and there will probably be some left-field choices. Some writers might want to champion relatively unsung performers, which is fair enough.

Some writers like to highlight a player who has been outstanding in a struggling team, one having already declared his vote for Bruno Fernandes. But whether it is the FWA award, the Professional Footballers Association award (PFA) or any other gong, there can surely be only one winner at the end of this season. Mohamed Salah.

If there is any realistic competition for Salah, it would come from within his own squad, such has been Liverpool’s crushing superiority. Individual accolades are rarely given to defenders - only once in the last 36 years has a defender been named Footballer of the Year, Ruben Dias collecting the honour for the 2020-21 season.

But had it not been for Salah, Virgil van Dijk would have been a worthy recipient this time around, the Dutchman having been an imperious leader of this Liverpool team, on and off the field. Salah, though, has been the Premier League’s most consistently brilliant performer by some distance.

And importantly, he is becoming an increasingly precious commodity in a league in which how teams work without the ball is becoming more and more important. Salah is a rarity. He is such a potent attacking force that he does not care for defensive graft, is clearly not a fan of hard-pressing and tracks back only in an obvious emergency.

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Thierry Henry was like that. And that is why Salah and Henry are true Premier League greats.

While Salah will dominate the senior awards, the competition for the best young player of the season is tighter. Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has had an eye-catching campaign and Adam Wharton has been excellent for Crystal Palace.

But for me, two defenders would be battling it out for the young player honour, although the future for Myles Lewis-Skelly probably lies in a more advanced position. For me, his emergence for Arsenal and his stunning England bow just about gives him the edge over Bournemouth centre-half Dean Huijsen, who has performed with a maturity way beyond his 20 years.

When it comes to team of year, Lewis-Skelly would probably be vying with Milos Kerkez and Antonee Robinson for the left-back role and Huijsen would have claims to partner Van Dijk. At right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold has an obvious case but recognition would be nice for Ola Aina’s fantastic contribution to Nottingham Forest’s campaign.

Alexis Mac Allister is a shoo-in for a midfield slot and his team-mate Ryan Gravenberch has a great shout but Fernandes does deserve a nod of approval for his support of a besieged Ruben Amorim. While his form did take a prolonged tip, Chelsea's Cole Palmer came claim a place.

Playing 4-3-3, Salah is, of course, an automatic choice and Alexander Isak plays through the middle in preference to Erling Haaland and Chris Wood, with the final attacking slot going to the vastly under-rated title-winners, Luis Diaz. But it is Salah who is the jewel in the crown and Salah who is, by anybody’s measurement criteria, the Footballer of the Year.

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