Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk named Premier League player of the season

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 30 May 2019

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is named the Sports Mole Premier League player of the season ahead of Raheem Sterling and Eden Hazard.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been named the Premier League player of the season in the 2018-19 Sports Mole Reader Awards.

The Dutch centre-back helped the Reds to a league-high 21 clean sheets and a league-low 22 goals conceded all season as they finished in second place, just a point behind champions Manchester City.

Van Dijk's form over the course of the campaign saw him claim almost half of the votes in our player of the season category, adding the award to his PFA Players' Player of the Season prize.

Raheem Sterling, who was named FWA Footballer of the Year having scored 17 goals and created 10 more in 2018-19, came in second place but could only garner 18.4% of the votes compared to Van Dijk's 48%.

Chelsea's Eden Hazard rounds off the top three with 12% of the voting, while Bernardo Silva (8.8%) and joint top-scorer Sadio Mane (8%) also make the top five.

Sergio Aguero earned only 2.4% of the votes despite scoring 21 goals en route to the title, while 22-goal Mohamed Salah (1.6%) and defensive midfielder Fernandinho (0.8%) fared even worse from the final shortlist.