Jordan Henderson has been named as the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year after captaining Liverpool to Premier League title success this season.
Henderson was named as the winner of the prestigious accolade after a fine individual campaign, finishing ahead of Manchester City‘s Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester United‘s Marcus Rashford and Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk in the voting.
The award caps a career-best season for the England international who has often been the driving force behind Liverpool’s long-awaited title success, leading the Reds to a first top-flight crown in three decades.
Henderson revealed his delight at being recognised with the accolade before paying tribute to his title-winning teammates, insisting each member of the Liverpool side ‘deserve this just as much as I do’.
Speaking after being named as the winner of the award, he said: โIโd like to say how appreciative I am of the support of those who voted for me and the Football Writersโ Association in general. You only have to look at the past winners of it, a number of whom Iโve been blessed to play with here at Liverpool, like Stevie (Gerrard), Luis (Suarez) and Mo (Salah) to know how prestigious it is.
1๏ธโฃ Henderson
2๏ธโฃ De Bruyne
3๏ธโฃ Rashford
4๏ธโฃ Van Dijk
5๏ธโฃ ManรฉHere’s the top five in @theofficialfwa‘s Player of the Year vote โฝ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/u77ohO3L4I
โ Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) July 24, 2020
โBut as grateful as I am I donโt feel like I can accept this on my own. I donโt feel like anything Iโve achieved this season or in fact during my whole career has been done on my own. I owe a lot to so many different people โ but none more so than my current teammates โ who have just been incredible and deserve this every bit as much as I do.
โWeโve only achieved what weโve achieved because every single member of our squad has been brilliant. And not just in matches. Not just in producing the moments that make the headlines and the back pages but every day in training.
โThe players whoโve started the most games for us this season have been as good as they have been because of our culture and our environment at Melwood. No one individual is responsible for that โ itโs a collective effort and thatโs how I view accepting this honour.
โI accept it on behalf of this whole squad, because without them Iโm not in a position to be receiving this honour. These lads have made me a better player โ a better leader and a better person.
โIf anything I hope those who voted for me did so partly to recognise the entire teamโs contribution.
“Individual awards are nice and they are special and I will cherish this one. But an individual award without the collective achievement wouldnโt mean anywhere as much to me โ if anything at all.โ
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