21 August 2025
Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool legend in the making, has made Premier League history, after being awarded 2024/25 Player of the Year award, presented by the English Professional Footballers' Association, on Tuesday.
Salah has become the most decorated player with the award, having won it three times, having previously shared the top spot with a large number of top scorers and stars in the competition's history, including Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Salah now stands head and shoulders above all others, having surpassed previous stars who had won the award only twice.
The first time Salah won the award was in his inaugural season with Liverpool, after finishing as the Premier League's top scorer with 32 goals.
The second time came in the 2021/22 season, which was not a remarkable season for Liverpool, who lost the league title to Manchester City and the Champions League final to Real Madrid. However, Salah shone on an individual level, sharing the top scorer spot in the Premier League with 23 goals alongside South Korean Son Heung-min, the former Tottenham Hotspur star.
By winning the award for the second time, Salah equaled the record of more players to have won it twice: Welshman Mark Hughes, who won it in the 1988/89 and 1990/91 seasons; the competition's all-time top scorer Alan Shearer, who won it in the 1994/95 and 1996/97 seasons; Frenchman Thierry Henry, Arsenal's all-time top scorer in two consecutive seasons (2002/03 and 2003/04); Cristiano Ronaldo, who won it in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons; and Welshman Gareth Bale, who won it in the 2010/11 and 2012/13 seasons. Salah wasn't the only player he sought to surpass in order to claim sole leadership of the rankings. He also faced competition from players of his generation in the English Premier League, with Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, the former Manchester City star, winning the award twice in 2019/20 and 2020/2021. He moved to Napoli earlier this summer after ten years with Manchester City.
Salah's immense stardom and constant desire to break records may not have fully reflected his difficult first experience in English football. He joined Chelsea in January 2014, but failed to establish himself with the team, and his stock declined as a rising talent seeking to shine in Europe. Instead, he sought to shine wherever he went, finding opportunities on loan at Fiorentina, then Roma, which introduced him to the world in a better light. His move to Liverpool was the beginning of an inspiring story that has yet to end.
