Yesterday, Lionel Messi claimed that Neymar can win the Ballon D'Or award in the future. With Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominating the award for the past five seasons, here's a look at who can take over the reins from the two superstars.
Neymar
The Brazilian star has already established himself as one of the finest attacking players on the planet with 36 goals in 56 appearances for his country and Barcelona paid €57 million last summer for his services to ensure that he would be following in the footsteps of his South American teammate. He will certainly be a front-runner for the most prestigious individual award in football by the time Messi and Ronaldo begin their inevitable decline.
Eden Hazard
The Belgian star sealed a big-money move to Chelsea in 2012 from LOSC Lille and, after a promising start to his career, has shown no signs of slowing down in London. As a key member of Jose Mourinho's attacking line-up, and Chelsea currently first in the Premier League, you can be certain that he is on course for lots of silverware at club level. On the international stage, he is, so far, the biggest name in Belgium's fresh-faced, promising young team that features the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Hazard's teammate, Thibaut Courtois. Belgium's team looks to be one of the favourites for the next World Cup in Russia, and if Hazard can lead his team beyond the quarter-finals stage, which they reached in Brazil, to, perhaps, a historical win, he will undoubtedly be nominated for the Ballon D'Or as the small nation's biggest superstar.
Gareth Bale
When Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick against defending champions, Inter Milan, for Tottenham in the 2010/11 Champions League group stages, the world became aware of his remarkable talent for the first time. Since then he has picked up the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for Spurs in 2012/13, which lead to him sealing a move to Real Madrid for a record fee of €100 million. Since then he has won a Copa Del Rey and Champions League title. Currently overshadowed by his teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale will be looking to fill the Portuguese player's boots as soon as he has the chance to, and will undoubtedly relish at being the main man in the Spanish capital. He will be a certain to feature in the race for the Balon D'Or in years to come.
The idea of a new generation of superstars genuinely excites me and the three players mentioned here have already shown that they are capable of being the best of the best.
Who do you think will be the players in the running for the Ballon D'Or in the future?
