Cole Palmer has named surprise pick for 'the best player in the world' ahead of Ballon d'Or awards

Palmer initially couldn’t choose between two players but narrowed it down.

Chelsea star Cole Palmer has named who he believes to be the best player in the world ahead of the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.

The Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place on Tuesday, October 28, and Palmer is one of the 25 nominees for the men’s award.

He is the only Chelsea men’s player nominated for the Ballon d’Or, with Blues trio Lauren James, Mayra Ramirez and Sjoeke Nusken up for the women’s award.

Palmer will face fierce competition for the upper placings in the men’s voting, with the Real Madrid duo of Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham expected to battle with Manchester City’s Rodri for the top three positions.

Vinicius is now heavy favourite with the bookmakers to scoop the award, in a year that has seen both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo not nominated for the first time since 2005.

In September, Palmer secured the PFA Young Player of the Year award after scoring 22 Premier League goals for Chelsea last season.

He also added 11 assists, and already has nine goal contributions in eight league matches this term.

At that event, Palmer was asked by Goal who he believed to be the best player in the world right now.

After some deliberation, he said both Vinicius Junior and his Real Madrid team-mate Kylian Mbappe – before settling on Mbappe.

The Frenchman has also been nominated for the Ballon d’Or and will be in contention to finish in a strong position, but is not among the leading candidates.

Mbappe has netted six La Liga goals in nine appearances since joining Real on a free transfer from PSG in the summer, in what had been one of the most highly-anticipated moves in world football.

Here is the full list of nominees for the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or:

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan)
Daniel Carvajal (Real Madrid)
Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Artem Dovbyk (Roma)
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen)
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
Dani Olmo (Barcelona)
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Rodri (Manchester City)
Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
William Saliba (Arsenal)
Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain)
Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)