Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has proclaimed he wishes to win the Ballon d’Or over the next few years and emulate the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
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And what’s more he’s convinced he can saying: “If I continue to develop well and stay healthy, I would like, in the next few years, to hold the Ballon D’Or in my hands,” reports Guardian.
An ambitious and exciting target for the German to have but one we here at CaughtOffside feel might be a step too far for him, especially considering the kind of competition he will be facing.
Here are nine players more likely than the German to win the trophy over the coming years:
Eden Hazard – Chelsea
The Belgian is improving year-on-year at Chelsea becoming one of the hardest players to handle in the Premier League as proved by the fact he is currently the most fouled man in the top-flight.
If he can add more goals to his game he will truly be the force his potential has always threatened to be.
Sergio Aguero – Manchester City
Ultimately it may be Aguero’s body that controls whether he can truly contend for football’s top individual prize with the Argentine missing key parts of the season in every campaign for City with little niggling problems.
There’s no doubting he has the ability though.
Neymar – Barcelona
After a so-so first campaign the Brazilian has become a deadly and integral part of the Barcelona attack and slowly proving he might actually be worth the €60 million Barcelona supposedly paid for him – as well as costing them a few club executives!
Most certainly a front-runner if his 26 goals and four assists so far this campaign are anything to go by.
Kevin De Bruyne – Wolfsburg
But if you want to take about incredible stats look no further than Kevin De Bruyne who after the disappointment of a failed spell at Chelsea – thought whether this was the fault of him or Jose Mourinho is up for question – has gone on to be a quite spectacular tour de force in the Bundesliga.
De Bruyne has hit a delightful 14 goals and a devastating 21 assists which includes his almost one man dismantling of Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich earlier this season.
A future winner – no doubt.
Paul Pogba – Juventus
One of the most powerful and fearsome midfielders in the business who has many clubs lusting after his driving runs from the middle and evermore incredible goals.
Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t get much wrong at Manchester United but allowing Pogba to leave was certainly a major error – no matter if the poor attitude of the player was a contributing factor to his eventual exit.
Pogba has the world at his feet and without question will be one of the world’s best for years to come, it’ll be interesting to see where though because you have to feel his days at Juventus are definitely numbered.
Luis Suarez – Barcelona
Stole the show during El Clasico with his incredible first touch for his winning goal and has finally refund his form and vigour after a summer move to Barcelona.
You have to think he would have been nominated in at least one of his stellar seasons during Liverpool were it not his questionable and sometimes deplorable antics.
If he can get his attitude right he can achieve anything – but Suarez never does anything the normal way, does he?
Marco Reus – Borussia Dortmund
It seemed destiny that Reus would be the last of the great Dortmund attackers to leave the club but he shocked the world by signing a new deal in February to keep him at the Westfalenstadion until 2019.
Therefore it could be questioned whether he could win the Ballon d’Or given the judges love for winning players to have a haul of trophies in their previous season, especially given the way BVBs season has gone of late.
But you’d be a brave person to count him out.
Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo
They might be getting old but OF COURSE they can win it again. Are you mad?