Why Eden Hazard prefers Sergio Agüero to Virgil van Dijk | OneFootball

Eden Hazard believes Sergio Agüero is more deserving of the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award than Virgil van Dijk.

Van Dijk was officially awarded the prestigious gong last Sunday for his contribution to Liverpool’s brilliant Premier League title challenge.

But Chelsea’s Hazard – who himself has had a fine season and was notable by his absence from the PFA Team of the Year – believes Manchester City striker Agüero deserves recognition after netting 29 goals in 43 games so far this term.

“Well, sometimes people are playing well for two months and then for the next nine months they disappear, so I try to look for consistency,” Hazard told Chelsea’s official match programme ahead of Sunday’s win over Watford.

“It’s better for me to vote for a guy that plays well for a whole season than for a guy who is on fire for two months, but only two months. I don’t base it much on how they play when I come up against them but on the whole year.

“I voted for Sergio Agüero, not because he scored a hat-trick against us! He has been playing in the Premier League for eight years now and in that time he is the guy who is always consistent.

“Sometimes he is injured but when he’s on the pitch, he’s scoring a lot of goals. So, for me, he is the best.”

While Hazard is happy to acknowledge Van Dijk has had an excellent season, he believes attacking players should be valued higher than defenders and even name-checked another Liverpool player as a more worthy Player of the Year.

“We can also say Sadio Mané was good, for example, but a lot of players deserve to win – even me!” he added.

“Van Dijk, he has had a good season, but it is difficult to say a defender is the best in the league.

“Of course, if he scored 15 or 20 goals, but it doesn’t happen for a defender. For me, it is better to vote for a striker or midfielder.”