'I'll tell you what': Pundit has a sneaky feeling £34m Liverpool player could win the Ballon d'Or
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The Ballon d'Or has just been awarded to Manchester City's Rodri, and already, the conversation is starting around who should win next year's award.
We may only be a few months into the season, but there are a few players who are already staking a claim at the Ballon d'Or.
Erling Haaland is, once again, dominating the Premier League scoring charts, Robert Lewandowski has fired Barcelona to the top of La Liga, while nobody in Europe has scored as many goals as Viktor Gyokeres.
Speaking on ESPN, Shaka Hislop has been discussing who he thinks is currently leading the Ballon d'Or race, and he believes Mohamed Salah is currently in with a real shout.
Mohamed Salah could win the Ballon d'Or
Hislop named Salah as his early pick for the Ballon d'Or.
Of course, there's a long way to go in the season, but Liverpool are currently the best team in the Premier League.
Salah has earned due praise for his performances this term, and Hislop believes he may be the best player in the world right now.
"Vini Jr will bounce back to win the Ballon d'Or next year?" Hislop was asked.
"No," Hislop said.
"Follow up question, who will?"" Hislop was asked.
"That is a very good question. I'll tell you what, right now, I think you have to start looking at Mo Salah. Salah has put up numbers that but for Ronaldo or Messi quite easily could've won the Ballon d'Or. I'm kind of thinking Mo Salah is in with a shout. Alongside that, Robert Lewandowski. If one of those two teams wins it all domestically and in Europe, I think it's a head to head between Salah and Lewandowski," Hislop said.
Ballon d'Or contenders analysed
The race for next year's Ballon d'Or will certainly be interesting.
With no major international tournaments scheduled for 2025, the race is wide open, and, right now, there are a number of players who could be in the mix
| Ballon d’Or contenders | Games | Goals | Assists |
| Mohamed Salah | 16 | 9 | 9 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 16 | 19 | 2 |
| Erling Haaland | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Viktor Gyokeres* | 16 | 23 | 2 |
| Vinicius Jr | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| Harry Kane | 14 | 17 | 6 |
| Cole Palmer | 10 | 7 | 5 |
| Raphinha | 17 | 12 | 8 |
| Kylian Mbappe | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Lamine Yamal | 16 | 6 | 8 |
Salah's numbers do stack up with the best of them, and the fact that Liverpool could be on course to win some major trophies does work in his favour.
Salah has been described as 'incredible' this season, and if Liverpool can win the Champions League, he will surely be one of the favourites to win the golden ball.
Of course, the likes of Kylian Mbappe or Jude Bellingham could yet explode into form, so it would be foolish to write those players off just yet, but based on the first few months of this season, it's fair to say that the £34m man is very much in this race heading into 2025.
