Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has been overlooked by Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni, who has picked the four best players in the world aside from Lionel Messi. He opted to exclude the World Cup winner from the conversation because he is so “unique” and in his own class.
Scaloni named Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez as his picks, heavily favoring his own country. Salah, meanwhile, was not mentioned despite his stellar campaign under Arne Slot.
Yamal has emerged as one of the best teenagers of all time with his performances for Barcelona. Since winning Euro 2024 with Spain last summer, he has scored 18 goals and provided 25 assists for the Catalan side, and he doesn’t turn 18 until July.
While Real Madrid has not won a major trophy this season having lost the La Liga title race with Barcelona and been knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal, Mbappe has scored 41 times in his debut campaign. Individually, he is clearly still a huge talent.
Martinez and Alvarez are slightly more left-field suggestions, though both are exceptional players.
Martinez has reached the Champions League final, and he has 22 goals in all competitions for Inter this season. Alvarez has scored 29 times since he moved to Atletico Madrid for a fee of around $110 million (£82 million).
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Salah should be right up there with the very best, though. The Egyptian has scored 33 times and assisted another 23 so far this season in all competitions, helping fire Liverpool to the Premier League title.
In the race for the Ballon d’Or, there is no obvious winner at this stage. Yamal perhaps would have a big claim, but his numbers are nowhere near the level of Salah’s this season.
Often, the winner of the French prize comes via winning the Champions League or a major international tournament.
With PSG and Inter Milan in the final of UEFA’s top competition, however, and neither having a clear outstanding candidate, plus there being no European Championship or World Cup coming up, the race is more open.
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“It used to drive me crazy before,” Salah told Sky Sports when he was asked about the Ballon d’Or this week. “Some stuff is not in your hands, so you give up in that direction.
“When you go to work, you remind yourself of what you want to achieve in the season, so it drives you to work harder. I’d love to win it one day. But if it didn’t happen, I don’t know what to do. I’m sure there’s a good chance to win it this year, but we’ll see.”
Liverpool.com says: Salah has not been quite as prolific in the last few weeks but he is still miles ahead of everyone else in Europe when it comes to impact in the final third. The Liverpool ace has taken the chance to rest a bit in recent games, but will be chasing records properly again when the new campaign resumes and there is more silverware up for grabs again.
