Chelsea’s Eden Hazard named PFA Player of the Year

“I’m very happy. One day I want to be the best and what I did this season is play very well, Chelsea played very well,”

EDEN Hazard has won the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year award. Hazard, 24, has scored 13 goals and made eight assists in 33 Premier League games to help leaders Chelsea move to the cusp of the title.

The award was voted for by the Belgian midfielder’s fellow professionals.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane, 21, was named PFA Young Player of the Year, while Chelsea midfielder Ji So-Yun took the Women’s Player of the Year award.
Hazard, who won last season’s young player accolade, was handed the prize at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on Sunday.

“I’m very happy. One day I want to be the best and what I did this season is play very well, Chelsea played very well,” he said.

“I don’t know if I deserve to win but it is good for me. It is better to be voted by the players – they know everything about football.

“Personally I have played a good season, I have been there in the big games and I scored a lot of important goals, this is why I’m better this season.”

Arsenal midfielder Leah Williamson, 18, won the Women’s PFA Young Player of the Year award.

Young Player of the Year – Harry Kane

The 21-year-old was voted Young Player of the Year despite only beginning to feature regularly for the White Hart Lane club in November.

Kane has 30 goals in all competitions for Mauricio Pochettino’s side this season and also scored on his England debut against Lithuania in March.

“It is amazing. It is a very proud moment for myself and my family – hopefully the first of many to come,” said Kane about his award.

“I have got to keep working hard, but to be recognised by your fellow players is something special and it is a night I won’t forget.

“I got the opportunity with the gaffer and I have really enjoyed my season so far – I have taken my chance.”

Teams of the Year

Six Chelsea players are in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.

Defenders Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry and Gary Cahill are joined by midfielders Nemanja Matic and Eden Hazard plus striker Diego Costa.

Southampton full-back Ryan Bertrand and Spurs striker Kane are also in a team voted for by top-flight players.

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal also figure.

Lucy Bronze, 23, is the only player from Liverpool’s championship-winning side to be selected in the Women’s Super League Team of the Year.

Striker Troy Deeney, 26, is the only member of promoted Watford’s side in a Championship Team of the Year that features players from nine different clubs.

Five players from champions Bristol City are selected for the League One Team of the Year.

The League Two select XI features players from Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southend, Bury, Luton, Exeter and Shrewsbury.

PFA Merit award – Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard

Former England midfielders Steven Gerrard, 34, and Frank Lampard, 36, shared the PFA Merit award.

The veteran pair will leave the Premier League for Major League Soccer in the United States in the summer, having collected 220 England caps between them.

“I’m a young boy from a council estate who has worked ever so hard to get to where I am today,” said Gerrard, who will bring his 17-year career at Anfield to an end this summer when he joins Los Angeles Galaxy.

“I have been lucky, I have had a fantastic career, it has been full of highs and lows but some of the highs I have achieved have blown me away and I achieved a lot of my dreams playing for Liverpool and England.

“Frank is an unbelievable player, a world-class player and I couldn’t ask for anyone better to share it with.”

Lampard, on-loan at Manchester City from New York City FC, added: “I have been fortunate enough to have had a long time playing in the Premier League along with Steven.

“It is a great honour to be alongside a player who himself has done so much for the game. For the two of us to get it, it is a nice send-off and a nice ending for me.” BBC