Paul Pogba wins Europa League Player of the Season award

Paul Pogba has been named the Europa League Player of the Season for 2016-17 after helping Manchester United win the Europa League.

Pogba who started all of United's 15 games scored three goals in the competition to help United win the Europa League for the first time in the club's history with a 2-0 win over Ajax in May.

🏆 Congratulations @paulpogba, #UEL Player of the Season 2016/17! 👏👏👏#TheUEFAawards #UELdraw pic.twitter.com/HFR3HPQHC0

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) August 25, 2017

The French midfielder also became the first player to be awarded the inaugural prize at a ceremony in Monaco on Friday, having been chosen by a panel of judges that consisted of every manager who was involved in the group stage of the Europa League, and 55 journalists.

Thank you, Pogba said.

I'm really honoured to be the first to win the best player for the UEFA Europa League. Hopefully this season will be as good as last season -- let's see!

Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were also shortlisted for their impressive contributions while Marcus Rashford finished fifth in the overall poll and Ander Herrera was joint-seventh.

He was also one of eight United players named in UEFA's Europa League squad of the tournament, alongside Sergio Romero, Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind, Herrera, Mkhitaryan and Ibrahimovic.