Can Neymar and Mbappé fight for the Ballon d’Or?

Most of the football fans out there are ranking Lionel Messi as the best player ever to have stepped on a football pitch. For some however, it is Ronaldo and they can present some good arguments. Unfortunately, both players keep ageing (Ronaldo is already 32, while Messi is 30) and there is a good chance they won’t be the force they are now in 2-3 years from today.

Right behind these two football legends comes PSG signing Neymar Jr, and everyone hopes to see him dethroning Lionel Messi and Ronaldo in the years to come. According to the Brazilian, who we reckon will win the Ballon d’Or very soon, PSG have their very own Lionel Messi in Kylian Mbappé, currently on loan at the club from AS Monaco.

“I hope for Mbappé to be what Messi was for me at Barcelona… He is my friend”

Both Mbappé and Neymar were on the score sheet last night as PSG whipped Belgian side Anderlecht 4-0 to make it 9 points out of 3 games in their 2017/2018 UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. PSG are now the 1/25 favourites to win the Ligue 1 and there are plenty of reasons to believe they are a force to be reckoned in this Champions League edition. This belief is largely due to their scary strike force which includes the likes of Cavani, Mbappe and Neymar himself.

But can Mbappé also win the Ballon d’Or soon?

Considering how Mbappé has performed so far this season, it is not out of place to suggest he will become the world’s best player at one point in his career and he could be doing so as a PSG player. PSG is believed to have the option (or the obligation, some say) to buy Mbappé in the summer and we believe they only reason they haven’t made the deal permanent is because of the UEFA financial fair play laws that are in place in Europe nowadays. The French club would have been in violation for spending more than 200 million euros after bringing in Neymar from Barça and Mbappé from AS Monaco.

Mbappé now has eight goals so far in the Champions League and being only 19 years old, he is the highest scoring teenage in the Champions League. Mbappé is doing everything to show he is elite, but what is really stopping Neymar from winning the Ballon d’Or at the moment is the fact that both Messi and Ronaldo are still very much active in the game. Mbappé will just have to wait for his time. After Messi and Ronaldo, Neymar is certainly the next in line!

Should PSG win the Champions League this season and Neymar have a good World Cup campaign with Brazil next summer, and Neymar could be set to win the much desired Ballon d’Or. And if he does win it, a new era in football will begin…

Sources: cnn.com