5 reasons why moving to Barcelona will make Philippe Coutinho a Ballon d'Or contender

#2 Messi and Ronaldo are fading

Could Coutinho eventually replace Lionel Messi in the Ballon d'Or standings?

Nobody is saying that either man is going to end their career anytime soon, but only a fool would deny that the years of domination from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are probably coming to an end.

They’ve dominated world football now for a decade – in terms of winning the Ballon d’Or included – but for the first time in a long time, 2017/18 seems to be seeing players other than those two greats shining brightly.

The likes of Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Neymar Jr and of course, Philippe Coutinho, are performing at an extraordinarily high level right now and suddenly the gap between Ronaldo, Messi and everyone else appears to be closing.

Ronaldo has just 18 goals thus far this season – far behind his usual lofty standards – and his Real Madrid future is said to be extremely doubtful right now.

Messi is looking as good as ever, admittedly, but even if he wins this year’s Ballon d’Or, at 30 how many more great seasons does he really have in him? And when the two greats do begin to wind down, the Ballon d’Or is there for the taking.

Not only could a player of Coutinho’s skill help to replace Messi at Barca, but he could also replace him in the standings of the famous award, too.