German wonderkid tipped to rival Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe for future Ballon d'Or awards

With the dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now coming to an end, as both players move away from Europe in the swansongs of their careers, people are naturally expecting Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr to take on the mantle as the next superstars.

Future Ballon d'Or awards will be a lot more open without the duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo, and former Barcelona, AC Milan and Ajax striker Patrick Kluivert believes it's only a matter of time before one of the aforementioned trio lift the most coveted individual award in football. 

"Well, one of them, for sure, will have the Ballon d'Or," Kluivert told Guillem Balague who was interviewing the former Netherlands striker for JohnnyBet. "At the moment, those three players are really dictating European football, even in their national teams. 

"They're there. They're amazing. So, yeah, those three players are going to be the pioneers of the next generation. But there will be another player joining them soon."

That player, according to Kluivert, will be Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala.

"Of course, you've got the new talents coming in. Bellingham, Bukayo Saka. 

"But for me, Musiala is one of the fantastic players. I really like this player and how he manages to come out of situations when things are getting difficult. He's a very good player to watch out for in the next season. 

"He will play in the starting XI, like he has done this season just gone, but he's still quite young and for me a fantastic player."

Indeed, still only 20-years-old, Musiala established himself as one of the most important players in Bayern's first team in the 2022/23 campaign, assisting 13 times and scoring a further 12 goals - including an 89th-minute title winner on the final day - to help his side retain the Bundesliga for an eleventh consecutive year - and already the fourth of his fledgling career.

Germany manager Hansi Flick clearly trusts Musiala for the national team, too, starting him in his preferred attacking midfield position whenever he's available. Continue on this trajectory and Kluivert may be right, maybe Musiala is the one capable of breaking into the dominant trio of Haaland, Mbappe and Vini. 

More stories

Chelsea star Kalidou Koulibaly has opened up on his move to Saudi Arabia, acknowledging that he took the pay cheque as much as anything.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are looking to bring in a second midfielder, potentially taking their spending up to £400m this summer alone after agreeing a transfer with West Ham for Declan Rice, and having already signed Kai Havertz.

Liverpool's owners are at a crossroads, with the era of state-ownership potentially seeing the Reds lose ground as they search for a 'fantasy investor'.