Liverpool star should’ve won Ballon d’Or as GOAT claim made by national captain

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The Ballon d’Or award is over for another year, but one national team captain believes that it should have gone to a member of the Liverpool squad.

Ousmane Dembele won the prestigious award, with Lamine Yamal in second place and Vitinha in third place.

Only three Premier League players have won the award in history, the most recent being Manchester City’s Rodri last year, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Owen previously won it.

In addition, the Ballon d’Or has been won four more times by players who played in the original English First Division, which the Premier League eventually replaced.

However, there was a strong case for a couple of Premier League stars this season, with two breaking into the top 10.

William Troost-Ekong believes Mohamed Salah should have won the Ballon d’Or

There will always be debate over the Ballon d’Or winner due to people’s personal tastes and who they support, but Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong believes Mohamed Salah should’ve taken the top prize this time around.

He spoke to ESPN UK about the award and Salah’s overall quality, claiming he’s close to being considered the greatest African footballer of all time.

“I think there was a slight slowdown of how he played toward the end of the season.

“But I think if you look at it as a whole, I think he should be in that conversation, and definitely be one of the top three.

“Yeah, Salah’s a player who should definitely go down as the world’s best. If he does so, then he might arguably be Africa’s greatest player of all time.”

Unfortunately for Salah, he placed fourth at the prestigious awards this season. While that’s still an incredible achievement, it’s not the level many Liverpool fans wanted him to be at.

Mohamed Salah had an exceptional season in 2024-25

Salah might not have been able to bring the award back to Anfield, but he certainly had an impressive individual campaign last season.

Salah was the top goalscorer (29) and boasted the most assists (18) in the Premier League last season as he showcased his attacking qualities.

Meanwhile, he was named the Premier League Player of the Season, the FWA Footballer of the Year, and the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

In addition to those individual accolades, Liverpool went on to win their historic 20th Premier League title, which was arguably the biggest achievement of the lot.