Jürgen Klopp believes Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk should be three of the leading contenders for the PFA Player of the Year accolade.

Van Dijk has been cited in many quarters as a prominent candidate for the annual individual honour as recognition for his commanding performances at the heart of Liverpool’s defence.

Mane and Salah, meanwhile, have each notched 17 Premier League goals so far this term to help Klopp’s charges mount a serious challenge for Manchester City’s crown.

And the Reds boss feels any of the three would be worthy recipients of an award won by Salah in 2017-18.

“Virgil is a fantastic player but we cannot have the points we have without having a lot of really good players,” said Klopp of Liverpool’s possible winners.

“If you take the last 10 weeks, and not only that, I would say Sadio Mane is probably in the race as well. If you take the 10 weeks before that then Mo Salah is in the race again.

“At the end there will be a very, very good player winning that competition.

“If it was a Liverpool player for the second time in a row that would be really big as well because it is another sign that things are going in the right direction.”