Maty Ryan voted Professional Footballers Australia Player of the Year

Brighton goalkeeper Maty Ryan has been named as the Professional Footballers Australia Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season.

Ryan was presented with the medal – and it is quite literally a medal – on Monday night after returning Down Under for the Socceroos’ World Cup Qualifiers against the mighty Nepal in Canberra.

The award is voted for by the members of Australia’s PFA and recognises the country’s outstanding player from last season.

Ryan was in sparkling form for both the Socceroos and the Albion over the course of the previous campaign. He represented Australia at the World Cup in Russia and the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

The Socceroos exited the former at the group stage and suffered a shock defeat to the hosts in the quarter finals of the latter.

For Brighton, Ryan made history as the first Albion Player to win a Premier League Player of the Month Award when he was named the top flight’s best performer in October.

Ryan kept three clean sheets from three games which was enough to see him beat Arsenals Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, fellow Seagull Shane Duffy, Chelsea’s Ross Barkley, Fernandino of Manchester City and Anthony Martial of Manchester United to the award.

His form in the second half of the season once he’d returned from the Asian Cup wasn’t quite as good, but he still gave some memorable performances.

The best of those came at Milllllllllllllllllll in the last eight of the FA Cup. He made a string of vital saves over the course of 120 minutes to ensure the tie went to penalties at the Den and then produced a stunning stop from Mahlon Romeo in the shoot out.

Ryan beat another Brighton player in Aaron Mooy to the award. The other nominees were Genk goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, Roy Krishna of Indian Super League side ATK and Perth Glory winger Chris Isaias.

It’s the second time that Ryan has won the accolade. The previous occasion was at the end of the 2014-15 campaign when he became the first individual to win both the PFA award and the wonderfully named Harry Kewell Medal for Young Player of the Year in the same season.

That came after a stellar year in which he was voted Belgian Pro League Goalkeeper of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the Asian Cup which Australia lifted on home soil.

Oh, and of course he hates Palace too.