Jude Bellingham overlooked as Thomas Frank names England's best Ballon d'Or hope

19 February 2024 , 15:21

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Jude Bellingham overlooked as Thomas Frank names England's best Ballon d'Or hope

Phil Foden has the potential to follow Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and win the Ballon D’Or, according to Brentford boss Thomas Frank.

The England star netted a hat-trick in Manchester City's win in West London earlier this month - and he has now scored five times in five games against the Bees.

Before Tuesday’s rearranged Premier League fixture at the Etihad Stadium, the Dane said: Foden is a very good player. For me he is the closest I think England have to potentially getting a Ballon D’Or winner in the future.

"He has got that potential, that level. I think he can influence the game in so many ways. In the last game, he got on the end of three situations and scored three goals. He is a very good dribbler, he can slide people in, he works very hard.

"He seems to have a good mentality - I don’t know him personally - but looks from the outside to have a very good mentality in terms of working hard. So he is very good. But there are so many good players. We talk about De Bruyne, Haaland, Rodri, Doku, Silva. The whole team basically!”

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Only four Englishman have been given the award from France Football recognised as the highest individual prize in football. Stanley Matthews won the first award in 1956 followed by Bobby Charlton (1966) Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) and Michael Owen (2001). Northern Ireland’s George Best won in 1968 while Kenny Dalglish (1983) Gary Lineker (1986) David Beckham (1999) and Frank Lampard (2005) all finished runner-up.

Messi won his record eighth Ballon D’Or last year after leading Argentina to the World Cup while Ronaldo has five. Brentford were the last team to win a Premier League game at City in November when Ivan Toney netted twice - and Foden scored for the home team - in the last match before the World Cup.

Phil Foden has been in scintillating form for Manchester City (Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)

Frank, whose side have only won two wins in 12, said: “It is odds against of course for us to beat City but if you don’t believe you can do it, there is no reason for us to turn up. Every game we believe we can get something out of it.

"They are the best team in the world right now. They won the treble last year and they are right up there at the top of the league. They are definitely in the mix to win the Champions League.

"It is a big, big challenge but it is 11 against 11 on the pitch.”

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Neil McLeman