Former Crystal Palace forward Clinton Morrison has explained why Liverpool striker Sadio Mane is favourite for PFA Player of the Year ahead of his teammate Virgil van Dijk.
The goal in their 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday was the 26-year-old’s 10th in his last 10 games, as the Reds returned to the top of the Premier League table.
The former Southampton marksman has now scored 17 league goals this season to be at par with last year’s POTY winner Mohamed Salah, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane, with only Sergio Aguero scoring more than him in the division.
Van Dijk has been outstanding this term, contributing three league goals amid his solid defensive displays for the Reds.
However, the 39-year-old believed the Senegalese has a ‘great chance’ of picking the highly coveted individual prize for his impressive goalscoring run.
“Yeah I think he [Mane] is a contender,” Morrison said on Sky Sports.
“Obviously I think Van Dijk has been outstanding but Mane’s been brilliant. He is more natural in front of goal [now].
“I’ve looked at him a lot this season and the easier chances, sometimes he snatches at them and misses them.
“And when he gets the difficult chances, he puts them away. But he is in a rich vein of form, you ask any defender, they will not like to play against Sadio Mane.
“He can go either way, inside, outside and nine times out of 10 he delivers. His assists are up there as well, he contributes a lot of assists and he scores a lot of goals.
“He’s got a great chance of being up there for the awards.”