Murphy explains why he’s conflicted on POTS award and league title winners

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Danny Murphy has given his verdict on who should be crowned Player of the Season – and, quite rightly, its a Liverpool man he’s settled on.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Murphy said that Virgil van Dijk is still his top pick for the Premier League’s top accolade despite Raheem Sterling also giving him something to think about.

“It’s still Van Dijk for me,” the former Red told Jim White on talkSPORT.

“But I think what Sterling showed on Saturday is that he’s sharp, he’s fit, he’s hungry and he’s still flying.

“If he carries on doing that until the end of the season, how many goals can he score?”

While we understand where Murphy’s coming from with the Manchester City winger (begrudingly), it seems like Van Dijk has much more of an impact on Liverpool than Sterling has for City.

We’ve kept 17 clean sheets in the league so far – more than our biggest title rival or anyone else in the league for that matter.

Murphy also said that: “Sterling plays in all the big games, he produces more big moments in big games too.

“If City win the league, is Sterling’s contribution bigger because they’ve won the league? I’m not sure.

“If Liverpool or City miss out by a point, it wouldn’t detract from Sterling or Van Dijk’s fantastic season.”

Van Dijk has marshalled our previously porous defence and made the £75m we paid for him look like small change. The Dutchman is arguably the best defender in the world right now and thankfully Murphy thinks so too.

He philosophically added: “Although I think Van Dijk’s the best defender in the world and he’s had a sensational season, it’s always easier to destroy than create.”

While we can see the argument in that, what he really means by that is that it’s harder to create than destroy. Van Dijk has built a fortress at the back for us and his imperious performances make it difficult to deny him the Player of the Season award.

Please just give it to VVD!

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