Fantastic though Salah has been, I personally would have picked de Bruyne as player of the year. De Bruyne has taken midfield play to a level not seen before in the PL, in my opinion, and has been instrumental in a City team that has undoubtedly produced the best single-season performance in the PL era, and possibly in the entire history of the English league, while playing at a level and in a style that I don't think we've seen before.
Salah has performed superbly, but I don't think he has done something that we haven't seen before. Ronaldo, Aguero, Kane, Henry, Suarez, Shearer, and many others have been prolific with goals, and most of them contributed numerous assists as well.
In terms of the Ballon d'Or, I wouldn't personally say he's a deserving winner, but it just goes to the best player in the team that wins trophies. I'm not sure where this idea came from - it was expressed once again by Roberto Martinez on MNF this evening. The award for the best player should go to the best player, irrespective of trophies. The trophies are already an award for the best teams, individual awards should just go to whoever has been the best player. If someone scores 60 goals for a relative minnow, and they finish 5th in the league, and lose in the Europa League quarter-finals then he should have a shot at winning any individual award.