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It's September and the new season has begun all across Europe and the pure joy of watching football every weekend remains unmatched. Club level action will take a backseat now for 2 weeks as players go off on international duty after 4 highly entertaining gameweeks.
Well, one of the most important things in football is to win trophies. Silverware offers a measurement of one's talents more than anything else. As such, all kinds of honours in football are coveted. As for the cream of the crop, nothing beats bringing home the prize for being the best footballer in the world - the Ballon d'Or.
Around 15 players are in the race for football's most talked-about prize. However, realistically only as many as 3 of them stand a chance right now. The performances during the month of August has been analyzed in order to create this ranking and without further ado, here are the top 10.
#10 Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe got himself into the reckoning for the top honour in football by going out on a high in the 2018-19 season. However, the youngster's latter half of the year hasn't worked out well at all. After spending 2 months on vacation which caused him to plummet in the rankings, Mbappe sustained a muscle tear in PSG's game against Toulouse.
Mbappe had started off the season decently and had scored a goal and registered an assist before picking up the unfortunate injury. Both of them came in PSG's season opener against Nimes and he was also the man of the match.
The Frenchman is expected to return towards the end of the month but is likely to miss Paris Saint-Germain's UEFA Champions League fixture against Real Madrid. That being said, there is no doubt that Mbappe will be PSG's main man this season given all the bad rep Neymar has been able to garner thanks to his summertime antics so far.
We expect Mbappe to make a climb back to the top spots in no time once he is back.
#9 Eden Hazard
A move to Real Madrid was supposed to hand a major boost to Eden Hazard's Ballon d'Or aspirations. However, it hasn't really gone his way so far in his time at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Belgian suffered an injury on his left thigh before Real Madrid's season opener against Celta Vigo and is yet to feature for Los Blancos this season.
Hazard hardly managed to win over new fans with his disappointing performances in pre-season. His showing up overweight also did not sit well with a lot of supporters. As such, Hazard has got a lot to prove to the fans of LaLiga what he's all about.
As for his fans from the Premier League, they know how much Hazard loves a challenge and if history is anything to go by, we are certain we'll see some terrific performances from the former Chelsea no. 10 in the upcoming months which will surely see him finish much higher on this list.
#8 Bernardo Silva
Bernardo Silva will surely continue to be one of the most important players for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Though his numbers do not tell half the story, the diminutive Portuguese midfielder is quite a force to be reckoned with.
Primed to take over from David Silva, Bernardo Silva has already become a regular feature for Guardiola. However, he has only started twice this season after 4 gameweeks and has scored only 1 goal which came in City's 4-0 thumping of Brighton & Hove Albion.
His contributions for the Portuguese side have been great too. He was the UEFA Nations' League player of the tournament and played a major hand in Portugal winning the first edition of the tournament. If he can manage to match his own levels from last season in the coming weeks, Bernardo Silva could even finish on the podium this time around.
#7 Sadio Mane
Sadio Mane would have made a much more compelling case had fortune favoured them in the African Cup of Nations and a deflected shot didn't find its way to the back of Senegal's net in the final of the tournament. It hasn't slowed Mane down though.
One of Jurgen Klopp's coveted front 3, Sadio Mane continues to cause mayhem whenever Liverpool foray into attack. Skilful, calm and intelligent, Mane is that rare footballer who looks set to deliver every time he walks out on to the pitch.
The hunger is there for all to see and Mane has started the new season well. From 3 starts in the Premier League so far, he has 2 goals and an assist and he alongside Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah once again look like they cannot be denied yet another terrific season in front of goal.
Once Mane really gets into the mood, he is expected to climb the list further.
#6 Mohamed Salah
Of course, this list would have been incomplete without the Egyptian King. So, the new Premier League season is 4 weeks old and it would be safe to say that Mohamed Salah is still at Anfield and that normal service has been restored.
Salah once again looks unstoppable in that Liverpool red, steaming past opposition defenders and catching goalkeepers off-guard like it's child's play. Salah has already scored three goals and provided 2 assists from 4 appearances so far this season.
This looks certain to be yet another 20+ goal season. If he can come close to replicating his exploits from a season ago, Salah might even end up with the Ballon d'Or in his hands given as he has already won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool this year.
Mo Salah continues to be Jurgen Klopp's go-to for goals and as long as it stands that way, Anfield will make sure they blow enough wind into his sails.
#5 Alisson Becker
The goalkeeper that came to put Liverpool out of misery not only accomplished his job but also started securing it so well that oppositions have struggled to find any joy at all against the Reds. The Brazilian has been an absolute beast this year but unfortunately, an injury has set him back a bit.
Having already won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool and the Copa America with the Brazilian national team, Alisson Becker looked poised to finish quite high on the rankings. However, he sustained a calf injury before half-time in Liverpool's season opener against Norwich City and has been unavailable ever since.
It's not clear when he will be back though it won't be too long. However, that has caused his position on this list to stagnate. Liverpool need their no. 1 to get back and restore an unmatched sense of security between the sticks very soon.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo
The man needs no introduction. The great one refuses to bow out of a race in which he knows that he only stands an outside chance. Having won the Scudetto and the UEFA Nations League, Ronaldo knows that he is not one of the favourites to win it.
However, what's a Ballon d'Or ceremony without Ronaldo standing on the podium? The former Real Madrid and Manchester United talisman has started off the new season on a decent note. He has scored 1 goal from 2 appearances for the Old Lady so far. But we all know that tally is going to get a lot better in the coming weeks.
At 34-years-old, he is still the most important player for his national side where he is now ably supported by some top talent in the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva among many. However, his exploits so far might not be enough to earn him a record 6th Ballon d'Or.
#3 Lionel Messi
Injury got Lionel Messi as well. Sidelined with a knee problem, Leo Messi is yet to feature for Barcelona this season. His performance in the Copa America was also nothing to write home about. In fact, the Argentine and his team had a highly forgettable outing in the tournament this time around.
However, the sheer numbers he served up last season is enough to propel him to at least a podium finish in this year's edition of the Ballon d'Or. Let's not forget that this man scored 36 goals and provided 13 assists from 34 appearances in the La Liga last season. 5 of those appearances came from the bench.
He also scored a whopping 12 goals and laid out another 3 in the UEFA Champions League. Like Rio Ferdinand said earlier this week, you simply can't look beyond numbers like that. Let's see what Messi gets upto once he regains full fitness and is ready to unleash the beast once again.
#2 Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling has been hitting the headlines for all the right reasons and if what we've seen so far from 4 gameweeks in the Premier League is anything to go by, the Englishman looks all set to have the season of his lifetime at Manchester City.
A constant livewire in attack who is always making intelligent runs that leave entire defences flat-footed and bewildered, Raheem Sterling is a nightmare to defend against. He is always looking for spaces to drift into and having worked upon his finishing, more chances are ending up in the back of the net than they used to and City couldn't be happier.
Raheem Sterling is already on a roll in this brand new season and has already scored 5 goals for his side from 4 appearances. In fact, he showed that he meant business by scoring a hattrick in the Cityzens' season opener against West Ham. We won't be surprised if Raheem Sterling finishes on the podium this year.
#1 Virgil Van Dijk
If somebody told you that Liverpool were going to sort out their defence so well that one of their central defenders would have a very realistic chance of winning the Ballon d'Or back in 2017, you'd have possibly become a laughing stock at the corner pub. However, that's just exactly how things have panned out.
The UEFA Player of the Year, Virgil Van Dijk is so evidently a cut above the rest. An absolute colossus of a defender, there is no getting past him. Athletic, agile, strong and level-headed, he is that rare defender who can stick a foot out to stop a menacing-looking attack just as well as he can thump a 60 yarder into the path of his strikers to upset the opposition's goal.
Virgil Van Dijk provides Liverpool the stage on which Liverpool perform their heavy metal football artistry and boy, it's a joy to behold. This might well be the first time that a centre-back wins the Ballon d'Or after Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and we can tell you that if Van Dijk does end up with the Ballon d'Or, there can be no complaints whatsoever.
