Tobi Ijalana
Manchester City’s forward Raheem Sterling has been voted the 2019 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.
24-year-old Sterling took the writers’ men’s award with 62% of the vote after he was named Professional Footballers Association Young Player of the Year on Sunday evening.
He was more than 100 ahead of Liverpool’s defender Virgil Van Dijk who won the PFA Player of the Year and team-mate Sergio Aguero in the third place.
He has scored 29 goals for club and country, including a hat-trick for England in the opening Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic at Wembley, while also helping Gareth Southgate’s young squad reach this summer’s Nations League finals.
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The England international will be presented with the Footballer of the Year trophy, which has been awarded since 1948, at The Landmark London on May 9.
Sterling becomes the first City player to win the award since 1969, when Tony Book shared the honour with Derby’s Dave Mackay.
“Raheem Sterling is an exemplar of the talent and values our founding fathers sought to reward when they established the FWA in 1947.
“To have been voted the 2019 Footballer of the Year by our members, and with such an overwhelming majority, clearly acknowledges the contribution from a player over one season but it also recognises the huge impact of Raheem’s courage to challenge preconceptions and fight racism, which will leave a legacy not just for future generations in football but society as a whole,” FWA chair Carrie Brown said.
