Manchester City recently saw four players get shortlisted for the 2024 Ballon d’Or.
Specifically, Ruben Dias, Rodri, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland have been nominated to win this year’s prestigious award.
Following the announcement of the 30-man shortlist, a pundit and former Premier League player has shared his thoughts on why one of those four specific City players may not be in with a strong chance of winning the Ballon d’Or this year.
Gabby Agbonlahor discusses Erling Haaland’s Ballon d’Or chances
On the subject of Haaland’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or this year, Gabby Agbonlahor had this to say on the matter in a recent video shared on the talkSPORT YouTube channel.
He said: “Norway aren’t great are they, that’s the problem that might affect him for Ballon d’Or. You look at is he going to continue scoring? Is he breaking records?
“What he might do though, say if Halaand got 30 Premier League goals, wins the Champions League, wins the Treble again and scores 30 goals then you could say Haaland could get it.
“But then could it be someone else who’s scored 25 goals in the Spanish league but they’ve gone and won a competition with their country does that mean more?
“It’s hard to judge it isn’t it on what they see makes it work, it’s hard.”
Haaland’s lack of international success could hurt his Ballon d’Or chances
Last season saw the 24-year-old score 38 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions.
Having found the back of the net 27 times in 31 Premier League games, Haaland landed his second consecutive Golden Boot as he helped fire City to their fourth consecutive Premier League trophy.
However, with Norway not being involved in the 2024 European Championship, this gave players such as Rodri, who ended up helping his Spain side win the tournament, the chance to strengthen their chances of winning the Ballon d’Or.
Taking all of that on board, while he did have another top goalscoring top-flight campaign, it may be seen that other nominees could be more deserving of the award than Haaland on this occasion.
