Kevin De Bruyne 7-1 Favorite to Win 2019/20 PFA Player of the Year
By Robert Duff in Soccer News
Updated: April 2, 2020 at 9:19 am EDTPublished:
- Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is the +700 favorite to win the 2019-90 PFA Player of the Year Award
- No Manchester City player has ever won the award
- Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, the 2017-18 PFA POY winner, is the second betting choice at +1000
Is it finally going to be Manchester City’s turn to have a winner of the PFA Player of the Year Award as the top performer in the English Premier League?
Online sportsbooks think so. And the sportsbook thinks that City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is the guy who can do it.
Belgian international De Bruyne is listed as the +700 chalk to cop the trophy following the 2019-20 season.
2019-20 PFA Play Of The Year Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) | +700 |
| Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) | +1000 |
| Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) | +1200 |
| Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) | +1200 |
| Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) | +1400 |
| Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) | +1600 |
| Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) | +1600 |
| David Silva (Manchester City) | +1800 |
| Sadio Mane (Liverpool) | +2000 |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) | +2500 |
| Paul Pogba (Manchester United) | +2500 |
| Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur) | +3300 |
| Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) | +3300 |
| Tanguy Ndombele (Tottenham Hotspur) | +4000 |
| Leroy Sane (Manchester City) | +4000 |
| Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) | +4000 |
| Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur) | +4000 |
*Odds taken on 08/02/19.
Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, the 2017-18 winner, is the second betting choice at +1000.
City Pitching PFA Shutout
For a team that scores at a rate better than any EPL side, Manchester City still can’t score a PFA POY Award. The two-time defending EPL champions have never seen a player finish at the top of the table in the voting.
The last two years, they’ve come close, though.
Kevin De Bruyne getting a lot of love… pic.twitter.com/eLlOXXHVtS
— GOAL (@goal) July 29, 2019
Last season, when Liverpool defender and Dutch international captain Virgil van Dijk won the award, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, and Sergio Aguero finished 2-3-4 in the balloting.
De Bruyne was the runner-up to Salah in the 2017-18 voting, with Manchester City teammates Leroy Sane and David Silva finishing 4-5 in the final tally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK_EcPCNr-s
Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez did win the award when he was a member of Leicester City in 2015-16.
Crosstown rivals Manchester United are responsible for a record 11 PFA POY Award winners. Liverpool is second overall with eight winners.
Odds Against Liverpool
This is the second time that Liverpool players have collected back-to-back PFA POY honors. Kenny Dalglish (1981-82) and Ian Rush (1982-83) did so previously. But the Anfield side has never won the award three years in a row.
Only Manchester United, with three winners in a row from 1999-2000 to 2001-02 and four straight awards from 2006-07 through 2009-10, has produced winners of the PFA POY in more than two consecutive seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b83SwIKwAKU
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo (2006-07, 2007-08) and Arsenal’s Thierry Henry (2002-03, 2003-04) are the only players to win successive awards. That might explain why you can get +1600 odds on van Dijk when he’s also the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or this season.
Positioning Matters More Than Position
All but one of the last five winners of the PFA POY were part of sides that either topped the table or finished as runners-up. The lone exception was Salah’s win with fourth-place Liverpool in 2017-18.
Great to be back, ready to go! pic.twitter.com/oP8HtnD3wr
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) August 1, 2019
The last five winners have featured a defender (van Dijk), a defensive midfielder (Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante), a striker (Salah), a winger (Mahrez) and a winger/attacking midfielder (Chelsea’s Eden Hazard).
Is It De Bruyne’s Time?
De Bruyne looked to be on the cusp of greatness after his 2017-18 campaign, when he was voted Manchester City’s player of the year and narrowly missed out on the PFA POY. It was the second time the club voted him POY.
But a year ago in training, he suffered a lesion on the lateral collateral ligament of his right knee. That put De Bruyne on the sidelines for three months.
Chop inside 🔥
Left footed finish 🚀A brilliant goal from Kevin De Bruyne in Manchester City’s friendly with Yokohama 👏 pic.twitter.com/d8wDvLRFs6
— GOAL (@goal) July 27, 2019
Returning in October, he once again injured the knee, and was out for three more weeks. He was limited to 19 EPL appearances and just two goals. He entered the FA Cup final against Watford as a substitute, scoring once and setting up two other goals.
Playing for the best side in England, look for a huge bounceback year from a healthy De Bruyne. At +700, he’s a great price. Don’t wait for it to go lower. Get some action on De Bruyne right now.
Sports Writer
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
