Adam Lallana named England Player of the Year for 2016
Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has been named England's Player of the Year for 2016.
The 28-year-old claimed 39 per cent of the votes cast by members of the England Supporters Club to beat Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy (12 per cent) and Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney (eight per cent) to the accolade.
Lallana was a regular for the Three Lions throughout 2016, producing a number of stand-out performances for his country in the latter part of the year.
The Reds man scored his first international goal to secure a last-gasp win over Slovakia in September, before netting in the November meetings with Scotland and Spain at Wembley.
“This award is a huge honour,” Lallana told TheFA.com. “The last three winners were Rooney (2015), Rooney (2014) and Steven Gerrard (2012) so that just goes to show what a great achievement this is.
“Things have been going well this season for my club, so that always helps. When you’re playing well for your club then hopefully you can transmit your form into the national team and help out.
“That’s what has been happening but I don’t want that to be for just one season – I want to continue that for as long as possible.
“Off the back of a disappointing year for England as a whole, I’ll be looking to definitely improve in 2017 and hopefully we can build on how it has started under Gareth Southgate, as there have been plenty of positives.”