Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is one classy guy. He’s currently battling Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah for the PFA Player of the Year award, and he actually cast his vote to Salah, his chief rival for the honor.
(You’d have to put Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane in that mix too, but his chances obviously took a blow when he got hurt last month). De Bruyne and Salah will clash in a few minutes from now when City kick off at Liverpool in a much anticipated Champions League quarterfinal tie.
Ahead of his blockbuster, De Bruyne revealed his PFA ballot to BT Sport Chief Reporter Das Kelly, and the Salah vote wasn’t the only surprise that we saw.
Classy @DeBruyneKev reveals who he voted for as @PFA Player of the Year.
It was @22mosalah !
And De Bruyne provided me with proof. His ballot paper is below.
See the interview on @btsport 2 from 6:30pm tmrrw.@LFC v @ManCity #LIVMCI #UCL pic.twitter.com/07NevED8Ro— DES KELLY (@DesKellyBTS) April 3, 2018
De Bruyne, who isn’t allowed to select any of his own City teammates, accidentally revealed part of his first team ballot upon showing his Player of the Year choice to Kelly. De Bruyne named Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea as his number one and Red Devils defender Antonio Valencia as his right-back.
This will no doubt be a storyline heading into this Saturday, when De Bruyne and City host United in a potentially league title clinching Manchester derby. De Bruyne also selected Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen and Burnley’s James Tarkowski as his central defense pairing. He went with Spurs’ Davinson Sanchez for young player of the year. All in all, no matter who you support, one must applaud De Bruyne for his show of sportsmanship.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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