The 26-year-old feels the Uruguay international deserves recognition for his performances this season but expects competition from the Manchester United man and the Spurs star

Lucas Leiva believes Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez deserves the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award ahead of Robin van Persie and Gareth Bale.
The Uruguay international has been in fine form this season, netting 25 goals in 37 games so far, and is one of the favourites for the accolade.

And his fellow South American insisted that the forward is deserving of the crown after his “amazing” season that has, at times, single-handedly won the club matches.

“Luis will certainly be challenging for that award,” the Reds midfielder told the Liverpool Echo. “It has been such an amazing season for him. He has been scoring a lot of goals and showing everyone all the qualities he has.

“I just hope he wins because I think he deserves it after everything he has done this season.”

The Brazilian thinks that Van Persie and Bale will probably be Suarez’s main rivals, and is hoping that the Reds striker can maintain his good form until the end of the season.

“I think it’s going to be between Luis, Van Persie and Bale,” he added. “All three have performed really well and have scored a lot of goals.

“But we hope Luis has got the luck to win it. He has been so important for us and is a special player. It’s just so good to have him in our team.

“We just hope he can continue playing at this level and scores many more goals before the end of the season.”