Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers feels that Luis Suarez cannot be overlooked for the player-of-the-year award this season, especially with the disciplinary improvement he has shown, along with the individual bravura.
With 28 goals in 26 appearances, Suarez is clearly the leading candidate to win the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and Football Writers’ awards this season.
Rodgers accepts that Suarez ruined his chances of winning the award last season when he tarnished his reputation by biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, but the Liverpool manager does not see any reason why the Uruguayan cannot win the prestigious award this time around.
“He was well on the way to winning it last season when he had that unfortunate incident towards the end, which may have curtailed that,” the Liverpool manager said, as quoted by The Times.
“But this year he has been a model of brilliance. On the pitch it’s never been questioned and if anything he has improved on that level this year.
“But it’s been nice for people to see the other side of him. People don’t see he’s a really quiet, humble guy off the field who becomes a gladiator when he crosses the white line. A few people have seen the other side of him this year.
“In this country we like to see good people doing well so certainly for him it would be a wonderful step forward in his life and his career if he gets it.”
Rodgers mentions that although Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has been brilliant and likewise some of Liverpool’s players as well like Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling, but Suarez edges everyone in terms of sheer consistency.
Liverpool will take on Sunderland tonight at the Anfield, where a victory will take them within a point of Chelsea.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
