"Wins it based on the last three months" - Owen Hargreaves surprised that Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne won player of the year award over Liverpool star

Owen Hargreaves believes Liverpool's Mohamed Salah should have won the Premier League player of the year award over Manchester City 's Kevin De Bruyne.

The Egyptian international shared the PL golden boot with Son Heung-min, and also finished as the top assist-provider in the recently-concluded season.

The former Manchester United footballer said Salah was consistent with his performances while De Bruyne won the award based on the 'last three months' only. He also called out Salah's critics who called him selfish, saying that his assists this year proved them wrong.

The former Roma star finished the PL season with 23 goals and will enter the Champions League final against 13-time champions Real Madrid with eight goals in the tournament. Salah has also won the FA Cup and EFL Cup titles with Liverpool this year.

Kevin De Bruyne, on the other hand, has led Manchester City to their fourth league title in five years. He couldn't do much as Real Madrid defeated the Cityzens in the Champions League semi-final.

Speaking at MatchDay Extra for Premier League Productions, Owen Hargreaves questioned De Bruyne winning the POTY award over Mohamed Salah. He said (via HITC):

“If you are top-scorer, or joint top-scorer, and you get the most assists. Then surely you are the best player in the Premier League? The best pure football player is Kevin de Bruyne. Everybody knows that. I think de Bruyne wins it based on the last three months.'

“But I think Mo Salah has been astonishing, with the form that he has been in. “People criticise and say he is selfish. How can you be selfish if you have the most assists?”

---

Thomas Tuchel includes Manchester United alongside Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea for next EPL title race

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel believes it will be a five-horse race for the English Premier League title next season. Tuchel has included a struggling Manchester United side in the race alongside defending champions Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

"It will be a super tough race," Tuchel said after Chelsea's win over Watford.

"Manchester United will be in the race and Tottenham will be in the race with Antonio Conte for sure.

"We want to stay in the race and Liverpool and Man City do everything to make their squads bigger and they set the standard so high. This is the challenge in which we compete."