Manchester City striker Erling Haaland claims there are two other Premier League stars who could have won the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year.
The Norwegian was the runaway winner of the award when it was announced earlier this month, but the forward believes Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and City teammate Rodri would have been just as deserving of the accolade:
“If I had to pick another player to have won Player of the Year, I would say my Norwegian friend, [Martin] Odegaard has had a really good season.”
“There are also other teammates that could have easily won it because there’s a lot of players in the Manchester City team that have been outstanding this season. If you watch all of our games, you will see that Rodri has just been so solid throughout the whole season.”
“I think sometimes he is a bit hidden because he is in midfield and he’s the one pulling everything together. I don’t want to say too many names, but maybe it could have been one of them.”
Odegaard’s performances have certainly won him many plaudits, and it’s not a surprise that Haaland named him. They are teammates at international level after all.
His decision to mention Rodri is slightly more surprising; if you are not a City fan that is. The Spaniard has been a workhorse in midfield for the Premier League champions and he has been asked to play week in, week out by manager Pep Guardiola.
As Haaland points out, some of Rodri’s work does go unnoticed but he does deserve to be recognised for the contributions he makes.
Haaland is also favourite for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year prize
At the bookies, the striker is the heavy favourite to be awarded the PFA award, with the likes of Martin Odegaard, Kevin De Bruyne and Bukayo Saka not expected to upset the odds.
Considering Haaland has broken nearly every goalscoring record this season, there isn’t really any disputing the fact that he should win all the individual awards going.
