Liverpool forward Sadio Mane is the best player in the Premier League, according to former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
The Reds have stormed clear at the top of the Premier League table, currently sitting 13 points ahead of second-placed Leicester City after 20 games having played one match fewer.
It has come after a period of growth under Jurgen Klopp which also saw the Reds miss out on the title by one point last season and having to console themselves by winning the Champions League for the sixth time.
Who is the best player in the Premier League? Five things to know…
- Liverpool currently sit 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
- Virgil van Dijk has received a lot of the plaudits for his role in the team.
- The Dutchman is favourite to win the Player of the Season award.
- But Cesc Fabregas believes Van Dijk’s teammate, Sadio Mane, is the best player in the league.
- Mane has been directly involved in 17 Premier League goals this season, with only Jamie Vardy (20) and Kevin De Bruyne (19) contributing more.
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Over the past two seasons, Mohamed Salah received a lot of the plaudits for his part in the side’s attack, scoring 71 goals in 104 games. However, this season, it has been all about Mane.
The 27-year-old has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other Liverpool player in 2019/20, scoring 11 and adding six assists. He is also the only Liverpool player to both score and assist at least five goals in the Premier League this season and one of seven overall.
Across the whole of the league, only Jamie Vardy and Kevin De Bruyne have been involved in more goals, both of whom are expected to be mentioned when the end of season awards come around.
But, according to Fabregas, Mane stands above the rest.
Taking part in a Q&A session on Twitter, when asked who he thinks is the best player in the Premier League, the former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder simply replied: “Mane for me.”
This isn’t the first time Fabregas has expressed his adoration for Mane, with the World Cup winner previously naming the Liverpool man in his top three players in the world.
“Mané for me is top three players in the world and has been for a while. Top top level,” he wrote on Twitter in October while watching Liverpool face Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League, a game in which Mane scored.
And when his view was contested by a follower, Fabregas added: “Believe me he’s amazing. I’d love to play behind him.”
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Fabregas: Sarri “dies” with his tactics
Players were not the only topic of conversation for Fabregas on Tuesday afternoon, the Monaco man also spoke of former managers.
The Spaniard joined Monaco from Chelsea in the 2019 January transfer window after failing to impress Maurizio Sarri, who had come in the previous summer. Fabregas made 16 appearances for the Italian at Chelsea but only six came in the Premier League, amassing just 175 minutes, before bidding Stamford Bridge a tearful farewell in an FA Cup third round tie against Nottingham Forest.
Sarri, now at Juventus, came under a lot of criticism during his time at Chelsea particularly for his perceived stubbornness in sticking with one tactic. And although Fabregas agrees with that notion, he did admit the Italian was a good man.
“He has his tactics and he dies with them,” he said of Sarri.
“He’s not very flexible let’s say but he’s a good man with a good heart.
Fabregas also spoke of the hard work he had to do to change the mind of Antonio Conte at Chelsea, from appearing on his way out to being key en route to another Premier League title.
“I always said that coming back and change around his mind about me was one of the most satisfying things I’ve done in my career,” Fabregas added.
“I had to be silent and sweat a lot though.”