- Lionel Messi named four players who could win the Ballon d’Or in the future
- There was no place on his list for Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham
- Secrets of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s £2,500-a-night suite in Manchester – Listen to the It all starts podcast
Lionel Messi has named a group of players he believes have a chance of winning the Ballon d’Or in the coming years… and there was no room on the list for Jude Bellingham.
Messi is the biggest winner in the history of football’s most prestigious individual prize, having won it for the eighth time in October.
The Argentinian finished above Man City’s Erling Haaland and PSG’s Kylian Mbappé, two players he believes have a good chance of going one step further.
However, Bellingham, who is in the midst of a stunning debut season for Messi’s old rivals Real Madrid, received no mention.
According to L’Equipe, Messi said: ‘The players who will compete for the Ballon d’Or in the coming years? There may be a very nice rivalry in the coming years with players like Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius and many young players competing for the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi has named the players he thinks will challenge for the Ballon d’Or
Jude Bellingham received no mention from the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner
‘I also think that Lamine Yamal, who is still very young and now plays for Barcelona, will play a prominent role and will fight for that in the future.
“Certainly there will be others competing for it, new players will appear that we don’t know, because there are always new players, and I think it will be a very nice era to enjoy.”
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Bellingham has contributed 20 goals and nine assists in 31 games so far for Los Blancos, who sit top of the LaLiga table and have progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The bookmakers currently make the Englishman the frontrunner to claim the Ballon d’Or at the end of the year.
