Manchester City maestro Rodri will discover whether he has won the Ballon d’Or on Monday night.
Lamine Yamal hopes Rodri wins the Ballon d’Or and joins Luis Suarez as Spain’s second-ever player to win the prestigious award.
Kalvin Phillips feels Rodri deserves the Ballon d’Or after winning the Premier League with Manchester City and Euro 2024 with Spain.
Rodri is one of the 10 Premier League players to be nominated for the award — alongside Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Emiliano Martinez.
But the 28-year-old seems to be one of the main contenders to take home the award alongside Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham — three players who had particularly outstanding seasons.
However, Pep Guardiola has other players at his disposal who could win the award too one day.
Martin Keown says Erling Haaland could win the Ballon d’Or one day
The presence of Haaland, Foden and Dias on the 30-man shortlist indicates that there is a validity in such a claim.
Kevin De Bruyne, who finished in third place in 2022 could also be in contention next year if he returns to full fitness and reverts to his typical world-class standards.
However, Martin Keown feels Haaland has every chance to become a future Ballon d’Or winner.
Keown on BBC Sport: “Maybe Haaland with his goals. Why not? He’s world-class, isn’t he, how can you stop him?”
“The number of goals he’s getting, it’s ridiculous, 44 goals already in the Champions League, surely he comes into that list.”
The Manchester City striker has scored 14 goals in all competitions already and looks set to compete for such major honours in 2025.
Shaka Hislop predicted Haaland to compete for the Ballon d’Or with Yamal next year.
Lionel Messi feels Haaland can win the Ballon d’Or one day as well.
Where has Haaland been ranked in Ballon d’Or race in his career?
From a young age, the Norwegian international has cemented his name amongst the biggest and best names in football.
The 24-year-old was an enigma at RB Salzburg but it was at Borussia Dortmund where the world started to take notice of how special a talent he was.
Only after his first year at Dortmund was the two-time Premier League winner shortlisted for the award. Here is where Haaland has ranked in the Ballon d’Or so far in his career.
| YEAR | HAALAND’S RANK | WINNER |
| 2021 | 11th | LIONEL MESSI |
| 2022 | 10th | KARIM BENZEMA |
| 2023 | 2nd | LIONEL MESSI |
The evidence suggests that the Leeds-born goalscorer has finished quite high in the race for the Ballon d’Or already.
With the number of goals he scores combined with Manchester City’s consistent success, Haaland could most certainly win the award one day and prove Martin Keown right.
Perhaps the only disadvantage Haaland has when it comes to such an award is that Norway do not stand much of a chance of winning a major tournament; which could lead to his rivals for the Ballon d’Or winning it over him even if he manages to lead his nation to an appearance at an international competition.
But in years where there is no major tournament, Haaland stands a strong chance of making history.
