Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has been named Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year for the 2019/20 season.
The midfielder has seen off competition from Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne as well as teammates Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane.
He becomes the first Liverpool player to win the award since Mohammed Salah picked up the award back in 2018. That takes the total to 12 Liverpool players to win the FWA award.
The top five in the voting was Henderson, De Bruyne, Rashford, Van Dijk and Mane. However, Henderson managed to win with a quarter of the votes.
The 30-year-old has gone from a player the club wanted to sell to becoming the first captain to win the league in 30 years.
Henderson also received the award for his work off the pitch as well as on it. It was his leadership in the #PlayersTogether initiative that showed the country the type of person he is.
In typical fashion Jordan Henderson was modest during his thank-you speech, giving a lot of credit to old and current teammates. He said: “I owe a lot to so many different people – but none more so than my current teammates – who have just been incredible and deserve this every bit as much as I do.”
He followed that up by adding: “We’ve only achieved what we’ve achieved because every single member of our squad has been brilliant. And not just in matches. Not just in producing the moments that make the headlines and the back pages but every day in training.”
This award has capped off an unbelievable 12 months for Henderson. He has become a Premier League, Champions League and World Club Cup captain.
This award becomes Henderson’s second-biggest individual award after winning England Senior Men’s Player of the Year in 2019.