Lionel Messi has said that Manchester City megastar Erling Haaland could win the Ballon d’Or in the future.
As quoted by Fabrizio Romano, the Inter Miami forward had his say on the £51 million (Sky Sports) man’s chances of lifting the prestigious award one day.
However, Lionel Messi believes Erling Haaland could actually take home the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi says Erling Haaland can win the Ballon d’Or one day
Of course, the pair competed for the esteemed trophy this time around but the World Cup winner managed to come out on top.
Despite the 23-year-old, branded as an ‘amazing guy’ by Ilkay Gundogan winning a historic treble with City whilst having scored a staggering 52 goals in 53 games last season, he still managed to only finish behind the Argentine great.
Lionel Messi typically kept things classy at the Ballon d’Or ceremony by backing Erling Haaland to win the award one day.
“Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius and many young players can compete for Ballon d’Or in the next years…”
“I also think that Lamine Yamal, who is still very young and plays for Barcelona, will play a prominent role and fight for it in the future too”, he said.
Erling Haaland could win the award next year
With Lionel Messi now playing outside Europe, the Leeds-born striker could well go on and win the Ballon d’Or in 2024.
After all, it is a challenge to topple the former Barcelona superstar to the award, as he remains an elite player.
With Manchester City looking like they could genuinely win yet another treble, Erling Haaland will likely be in the running to take home the Ballon d’Or.
Once again this season, Haaland is in excellent touch and is expected to put up enviable goalscoring numbers.
Especially if the Sky Blues win the Champions League once again, how can one rule out arguably the best player in the world from winning the Ballon d’Or?
