The German tactician insisted the PFA award is the height of recognition as it is voted by the winner's peers

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is delighted with Mohamed Salah's triumph in the men's 2021-22 Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Player of the Year race.

The Egypt international beat Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane to the award after an arguably successful campaign that saw the Reds win the League Cup and FA Cup, and finishing second in the Premier League as well as reaching the final of the Uefa Champions League.

The PFA award is voted for by current and former professional footballers, and Salah impressed his peers above all others in the Premier League.

"What I really love about this prize is that it’s voted for by the players," Klopp said as quoted by Liverpool Echo.

"That’s the one prize that you should be interested in. Whatever the supporters say. Your own supporters always say ‘you’re the great’ and all the others say ‘how can he win it’.

"So in [Salah's] case it's the numbers, scoring goals. But scoring the most goals and having the most assists, with all the ups and down from a season and all the things I know about football, that’s a deserved win."

The German tactician went on to explain why he went for the Pharaohs' skipper from AS Roma.

"I saw that [how Salah could improve] when we scouted him and I saw a lot of videos of [Salah], and he was not the finishing monster that we see now," Klopp continued.

"I was incredibly excited about the chance to work with him. Yes, we spoke, that was a very good talk. But we all need longer to know about a person.

The moment I knew it would be outstanding was when I knew him as a person. Because he’s full of desire, he never stops developing and he’s a workhorse."

In the concluded campaign, the 29-year-old Salah managed to score 31 goals for the club in all competitions.