Predicting the best players who may never win the Ballon d’Or because of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe
Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe are on course to disappoint a whole new generation of superstars.
Lionel Messi may have won his eighth Ballon d'Or — watch out for his uber fans petitioning to have it renamed — but there is a strong chance he will never get anywhere near again, along with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Instead, Haaland and Mbappe, who came second and third respectively, have been earmarked by Messi himself to take over and dominate the award.
And Bellingham, who many might argue is currently the world's best player on form and won the Kopa Trophy, will also likely be in the race to win the Ballon d'Or.
The trio could dominate the competition for the next decade, with Mbappe aged 24, Haaland aged 23 and Bellingham aged just 20.
But for the other talented superstars in the footballing world, that will likely leave them out of the picture entirely.
That includes some players who are already established as some of the biggest names on the planet, such as Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne.
While Salah, 31, and De Bruyne, 32, might be approaching the tail ends of their careers, the Ballon d'Or has usually been won by someone in their 30s.
In fact, the last time a player won it in their 20s was Messi in 2015 when he was 28 with Luka Modric lifting in in 2018 at the age of 33 and Karim Benzema last year aged 34.
Salah did not reach the top 10 this year at the Ballon d'Or, instead finishing 11th after scoring 30 times and assisting 16 goals.
While Liverpool did not win a trophy, the Egypt international put up an astonishing campaign that by anyone's standards would be extraordinary.
If he cannot break into the top three with such stats now, Mbappe and Haaland's dominance in the Ballon d'Or already might be
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