Jordan Ayew named Crystal Palace Player of the Season

Ghanaian striker Jordan Ayew has been voted the Crystal Palace Player of the 2019/2020 season following his sensational display.

Ayew has been Crystal Palace most outstanding player of the season, scoring nine Premier League goals to emerge as the club’s top scorer.

In a poll which saw 6,000 supporters cast their votes, the former Aston Villa received 37% of the total votes.

He beat off competition from teammates Vicente Guaita (28.2%) and Gary Cahill (16.7%) to scoop the accolade, which he called “a really, really big moment.” After a busy evening, Ayew collected a total of three awards: Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season and Goal of the Season.

Jordan Ayew also won the Players’ Player of the Season and the Goal of the Season.

In an emotional acceptance speech on Palace TV’s End of Season Awards show – which you can watch in full here – Ayew said:

“I’ve worked so hard to get into the team and I think the first season I came into this team wasn’t the best but the club had faith in me, the club wanted me to stay and I wanted to stay as well.

“I had the desire to have a better season and things have gone so well. I’m just grateful.

“I want to thank everyone at the football club; I want to thank the fans especially, they’ve been massive for us this season, for me especially they’ve been massive. I’d like to thank all the people that supported me within the difficult moments that I had in my football career.

“When I have this type of award I just think of my family and obviously of the fans. And one man that’s been so influential in my football career: that’s [mentor and former Olympique de Marseille president] Pape Diouf. I lost him within the period of COVID and he passed away, I wish he was still here so I could present him this.”

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson announced Ayew’s achievement, and echoed the 28-year-old’s pride, saying: “[Jordan] is an unbelievable enthusiast and hard worker, somebody really who never falls below a certain level of performance, someone who never misses a training session and is always lively and alert in each training session, irrespective if it’s the day after coming back after a long journey or after having a day or two off.

“He’s made great strides going forward. When he came to us, he showed a lot of qualities but I think the qualities he possesses he really has worked on and improved… Well done, Jordan.”

Another personal achievement for Jordan Ayew is that he has managed to surpass his compatriot Tony Yeboah who played for Leeds United in the 1990s as Ghana’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League- beating his 24 goals.

source: pulse.com.gh