Merson says 51-year-old boss deserves Manager Of The Year award over Klopp, even if Liverpool win the treble

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are not just fighting it for the Premier League title, they are for the Manager Of The Year award as well.

The Reds and City are the two best sides in the country. They’re just a level above everyone else in the Premier League, and it’s all thanks to their respective world-class managers.

Merson is a big fan of both Klopp and Guardiola, but he believes that the 51-year-old City boss deserves the Manager Of The Year award if he wins the title tomorrow.

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Paul Merson: Guardiola deserves Manager Of The Year Award over Klopp

The Englishman wrote in his column on The Daily Star: “Pep Guardiola is still the manager of the year if Manchester City win the title – and it’s harder now than when Manchester United were doing it.

“The Premier League is the ultimate. It’s 38 games in the hardest competition in the world. If you win it, you are the best. Jurgen Klopp has done an absolutely phenomenal job at Liverpool this season but if he doesn’t win the league he isn’t the manager of the year for me.

“If you think City should be disappointed somehow if they only win the league and Liverpool win a Treble, you’d be wrong. I don’t see that at all. I’m glad for Liverpool that they’ve taken the title race to the final day. To win two cup finals, be in another, and push City all the way, is amazing. It’s phenomenal what they’ve done.

“But, at the start of the season, it’s all about one thing – The Premier League. Thirty-eight games, home and away, to be the best in the country. Don’t buy into all this hype about the Champions League. That’s just about egos.”

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We don’t really know what to make of Merson’s comments here, to be honest.

We can understand that winning the Premier League is the biggest goal at the start of the season and if Pep Guardiola does that, he should be rewarded in some way for his side’s accomplishment.

However, Liverpool have played every single game in every single competition this season. They may not win the Premier League tomorrow, but they’ve come really close, and they already have two trophies in the bag – with another one potentially 90 minutes away. That really would be an extraordinary achievement.

If Liverpool end up winning the Champions League to complete their treble, Klopp may just edge Guardiola to win the Manager Of The Year award.

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