DEBATE: Predicting The Next 3 Ballon d’Or Winners! 🏆 | Saturday Social

Saturday Social brought to you by EA Sports FC, PlayStation 5. And one of their players up front is obviously nominated and heavily linked with winning a Ballon d'Or next week. So it takes us perfectly on to our Ballon d'Or predictions. It's pretty much a battle between Ali Harland and Lionel Messi for this year's award, but we want to get our guests to predict their next three Ballon d'Or winners. OK, so all the way up to 2025. The miniature whiteboards are out, aren't they? Yeah, it's very straightforward. You've both got two miniature whiteboards. If you can reveal them to the camera, please. As Joe said, you're going to predict the winner of this year's, next year's and the year's after Ballon d'Or winner by placing a magnet on there. Then we will have a debate. So first up, the announcement is next week. Widely believed to be Messi or Harland, as you said. Who do you think will win this year's Ballon d'Or? Flex, let's have a look at your magnet. The goat. Steve, let's have a look at what you're going for. So you've got Messi. Surely he's going Harland. Oh, he knows, he knows, yeah. Well, let's go to Steve first. Why Messi for you? I don't think he deserves it. So he shouldn't win it? He shouldn't win it for me, but I think he will win it. You know what I mean? I just think everyone's fell into that, oh, Messi's won the World Cup. Let's feel sorry for Messi with God knows how many trophies he's won. But I just think early in Harland, for what he did to come to England, you know, there were certain people saying he wouldn't score 15 goals. He wouldn't do this. Sat in that very chair. Yes, exactly, yes. He came, he delivered in the hardest league in the world. He won the treble. He broke Premier League records. And you think of the strikers that have been in this Premier League, which he's come first season at his age and done it. First season, as you said as well, incredible. Yeah, I'm just hoping Messi does the right thing. So if you're watching, Lionel, make sure you hand it over to... Can you imagine that? He's not Lewandowski, but... You both think Messi will win. Do you agree with Steve that you don't think Messi should win, though? I toyed with this a little bit, you know, in the lead up to it. And you're thinking you can't have a season like Harland has had and not win the Ballon d'Or. However, you can when you play in the same era as the GOAT. It's as simple as that. For me, Messi, with what he's done, I was there for pretty much every single Argentina game. He carried them through. It wasn't just like, you know, a little token gesture so that the GOAT can get it. You know, he scored in the final, scored in the semi. He was... Goal against Croatia as well. He was simply unplayable, unplayable. And he reminded us why he's the best player to ever play the game. It's really unfortunate for Harland, but I think the GOAT deserves it. It's an interesting point that Flex makes there. I've seen this debate online. Do you think... Obviously, Harland had an amazing season. I think it is a toss of a coin with them both. But you alluded to the fact that if you took Harland out of City's team, do you think they would have still won the Champions League? Because you had so many players that were on such great form in that build-up. Your Rodríguez, your Kevin De Bruyne, your Diaz. Whereas if you took Messi out of that... Do you still think they would have won a treble without Harland? No way. I still think they would have scored an awful lot of goals like they've always done without him. Maybe not one player would have scored as many as Harland did. But let's not act like City haven't been cleaning up. In the lead-up, what was it? In the semi-final against Real Madrid, people say he missed quite a few chances. You don't even think he scored in them games. So you're saying, whereas if you take Messi out of the World Cup... No chance he would have won it. Impossible. But if you take Harland out of the Champions League team, you think they'd still... They're at least getting a double. Manchester City have cleaned up without Harland. No, I don't agree. I think that people, they're focusing on what Harland's... The goal scores he scores, you know what I mean? He does a lot off the ball. There's games where you see him make a run across the defenders and they're following him. It leaves gaps for other people. I think Erling Harland does a lot for the team, me. I think the games against Arsenal last season when he was dropping deep and playing off with De Bruyne. But there's a shout for... If we're talking about the World Cup, Alvarez. Alvarez won the World Cup and the treble and did everything both of these players done, but no one's talking about him. He's not the GOAT. I think we... Like, I agree, Alvarez has been brilliant. This guy here, with Erling Harland, the thing is with the Ballon d'Or, right, is obviously his goals with Erling Harland, the way he scores so many goals, fine. Got no problem with that. But in terms of a football purist, somebody who can do things with the ball that nobody else can, the one who plays the game, it's almost like poetry, where it's just beautiful to see and hear. Messi is just on a different planet. And if you don't supply Erling Harland, I think there's an argument that he can be frozen out the game. You don't really know he's there. You can't do that to Messi. Messi will always impact the game, whether he's dropping deep, whether he's providing assists, whether you want him to stick it in the top corner from a free kick, whether you want him to take on three or four players and put it in the back of the net. You can't, as Pep even said it, he said, there's an award for Messi and then there's an award for the rest. And I know there's the Barcelona connect there, but it's Messi. It's 100% Messi. So next year, 23-24, are you both saying Erling is gonna step straight into the void that's left? Because presumably now Messi's, you know, in America, Cristiano's in Saudi, not really even nominated this year as he's so, Harland steps straight in there? Yeah. I mean, I think he's gonna have another fantastic season. He started off well. The thing is with Erling Harland, it's like he's top of the Premier League goal scoring charts at the minute. People were saying he's having a crisis because he didn't score in three games. You know, Erling Harland is unbelievable. Erling's gonna do what he's gonna do. And if he drags Manchester City to more trophies this season, then his name's on it. 63 goals in 67 appearances from Manchester City, which is unbelievable. I read a stat as well this week that I think he's in the top 20 Champions League goal scorers of all time at his age, which is just phenomenal. And you've gone, again, fair play to the Man United fan. Yeah, you know, you've got to call it as it is. Is that an obvious one for you? Yeah, it's an obvious one. He was very, very unlucky. Look, if Messi didn't do what he'd done in the World Cup, it would be Harland. I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna shy away from that. And Steve's right. All of a sudden, you know, Erling Harland, not good. You know, he's having a little mini crisis. I remember at one point last season, the narrative was, has he chose the wrong side? You know, he can't really, they're not really playing through him and, do you know what I mean? And then look what he went on to achieve. I've seen Erling Harland not have a touch of the ball for 23, 24 minutes and then score a hat-trick. Yeah. So that's just, he's just- It's just a goal scorer. It's a credit to him, though, how he cannot switch off in a game. Yeah. Certain players, if it's not going their way and they're not getting any service, you see players sulk, the head drops, and they sort of, they're off the game. He never does. He looks frustrated, but he's always switched on and then bang, as soon as that chance appears, he's there and he finishes. His numbers are incredible. He's obviously an unbelievable player. Do you think he'll actually outscore this season than last season? Do you think he'll score more goals this season than last season? Because it's a huge tally that he's got. It's going to be close. I mean, we're talking unbelievable numbers here. We're not talking normal figures for the Premier League. So, you know, anyone gets 30 goals in a Premier League season, it's outstanding. I just think he's got to aim for that. But again, Manchester City this season, we've changed the system a little bit. We've got different people in and some games he's not getting the service. So Pep will get it right. He always does. And Erling's doing what he does best. He's another couple of the other night in the Champions League. Yeah, not even at KDB. Should we go to the next year then? I feel like this is the toughest one to do. Yeah, I think so as well. Predicting two years ahead. Predicting two years ahead, Kylian and Jude. Okay. So you think Jude at Real Madrid, a midfielder, get back to- You'd be playing for City then? Yeah. No, I do. I think Jude Bellingham. It's hard to predict, like you say, a couple of years, but the way he started at Real Madrid, it's not like it's Real Madrid. They're over the moon with him. He's playing well for England. He's just a generational talent. And I think if Real Madrid carry on building around Jude, maybe Mbappe ends up there as well. You're looking at Jude Bellingham, Mbappe and the team, maybe that might be their year. And I just think he's destined to win it. Yeah, 12 goals and five assists in 15 appearances for Real Madrid this season. Fans love him as well. I was reading a blog piece about how they absolutely love him there. You mentioned Mbappe and Jude potentially playing together. You think Mbappe will pip Jude for that award? That's why I've gone for him, because I think he'll be at Real Madrid by that time. So he can't win it at PSG, don't you think? No. No, I don't think so. Not in the next couple of years, because I just don't think they're going to get the honours. I don't think they're going to win the Champions League. Of course, they'll probably win Ligue 1. And of course, Mbappe can do something on the world stage. I understand that. But I just think Erling Haaland, like you said, with the numbers in the next year, will pip him. And by the time it gets to 24, 25, I think Mbappe will probably be at Real Madrid and be their main man. And French, who are such a force on the international stage. Look at what he did in the World Cup final. Exactly. That had gone a different way. He would probably have been in the conversation for this year's, wouldn't it? Exactly. So Mbappe is destined, destined to get it, destined. Big Mbappe-Haaland debate. They're two players that always get compared with each other. Where do you stand on that debate, Steve? Because both of them, we've seen you've got Mbappe and Haaland. We're speaking about both on the board as potential Ballon d'Or winners. No, they're fantastic. I just love watching Mbappe. I do, you know. But every time City's come up against PSG, we've run out the winners. But Erling at the minute, obviously I'm watching him week in, week out. And I'm just enjoying watching Erling Haaland. I think he's, you know, a couple of years ago, old fashioned number nines in football were dead. Nobody really went down that route. All of a sudden he's back and he's doing his thing. And yeah, let them two, well, let them three, I should say, go for it in the next few years. It'd be interesting to see. A couple of other names to throw in there. Smithy definitely wanted us to mention Harry Kane. No, I just, Ballon d'Or. Free show, Harry Kane. Can we get Harry Kane in there? Let's make sure we get Harry Kane in there. A bit of a stitch up here. We were talking about amazing players that were at Spain. I just made the point that I think England are going to have a very good Euros this summer. I think Bayern Munich are going to have a good Champions League run. And often Ballon d'Ors are decided by teams. That's actually a good point. Individuals who win. It could get in the top five, maybe. I think it would be in a conversation of players. We were shouting out other players. You shouted out Vinny Junior, didn't you? Vinny, yeah. We're trying to predict teams and clubs that will have a good season. Anyone else that you thought was close? If you're predicting in a couple of years, I mean, Alvarez, the way he started this season as well, you know what I mean? He's scoring goals for fun. And you look at him, what he's winning. If Pep can find a position for Alvarez regular, where they can link up, maybe a little and large partnership with Erling, like Philips and Quinn back in the Sunderland. Yeah. I'm dreaming of that partnership. Flip down. Pep, I don't think Pep wants Erling doing that. But no, you never know. Alvarez has had, like we say, he's won the World Cup. Everything Messi and Haaland did last season, Alvarez done. Big fan of Alvarez. You mentioned him a lot, didn't you? Love him. He's pushing that Alvarez training, isn't he? He's under the radar, though, and I like that. You know what I mean? Can you see that? Alvarez, Ballon d'Or, can you see? Not quite. I think he's always going to be a bracket below the upper echelon players. I mean, people like Jamal Musiala as well, coming through at Bayern, out of this world, unbelievable. I mean, he's definitely on one of the ones to watch. If Bayern do well, I think he's going to be at the centre of a lot of it. You've got, you know, Victor Osserman. Where's he going to be in the next year or two? Fantastic. What about Jonny Evans? Jonny Evans, he could get a new contract and keep playing at top level. Exactly. Well said. You know what I mean? So he's in there, mate. He's in there. He's interesting, though. A lot of the players are attacking players, aren't they? Or not defenders. It's very difficult for those sort of players to win that sort of award, isn't it? But yeah, good debate that. Let us know what you think at home as well on these predictions. I'm sure you'll let us know, as you always do.