Ian Wright believes Erling Haaland should have won The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award over Lionel Messi.
The pundit called out the decision not to award Haaland on The Overlap’s Stick To Football show, considering he primarily led Manchester City to their treble success during the year, 2023.
Lionel Messi’s fairytale World Cup triumph was not taken into consideration while making the decision, considering he won the tournament in 2022.
Ian Wright feels Erling Haaland should have won The Best award over Lionel Messi
Ultimately, this very factor is what seemed to give the Argentine the edge over the £51.3 million (Optus Sport) man as he beat him to the Ballon d’Or.
But with Messi having spent several months in 2023 outside Europe at Inter Miami, the decision to recognise him as the winner has divided opinion.
Ian Wright, however, firmly believes Manchester City goalscorer Erling Haaland should have beaten Lionel Mess to win The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award.
“Erling Haaland deserves it”, he said on The Overlap’s Stick To Football show.
“I think Erling Haaland deserves something for what he’s done. Listen, [Lionel] Messi and the joy he brings…it’s like when there’s a Goal of The Season, a Goal of The Week, if it’s Arsenal fans or Liverpool players in there, they’re going to vote for him because they love him. People love him!”
“If you really looked in at what Erling Haaland’s done, he easily should’ve won that. But that’s just the way it is and that’s something they have to look at because he should not have to go through thinking, ‘Yeah, I should have won that.’ Just like [Robert] Lewandowski, when Lewandowski should’ve won it [the Ballon d’Or].”
Ian Wright believes there should be better judges in place to decide that for instance, Erling Haaland should win such an award over Lionel Messi.
“They should put the vote in the people’s hands where you can say, ‘No, he should’ve won it!’ Messi himself would probably [think], ‘Yeah, to be honest, okay, I’ll take it.’ And you know what, with Erling Haaland, for me, if I’m Erling Haaland, I’m finding out, ‘Well, did I win?’ If they’re saying no, well, I’m not coming!”
It was an absolute farce for Erling Haaland not to win
In our view, Ian Wright has hit the nail on the head as it remains baffling how Erling Haaland did not triumph over Lionel Messi.
At least when it came to the Ballon d’Or, one could justify Messi’s leading role in Argentina’s World Cup win two years ago.
But when it comes to The Best FIFA Men’s Player award, Erling Haaland should have experienced a landslide victory.
Unlike Lionel Messi, who won Ligue 1 and competed in the MLS (Major League Soccer), Erling Haaland dominated European football, swept up trophies for fun and continued to perform for Manchester City during the 2023/2024 season.
Alas, Haaland will have to aim to win the award next time around after having bizarrely finished in second place.
