Erling Haaland Names The Three Best Players In The World

Erling Haaland has named his top three players in the world right now, and Lionel Messi has only just slipped into the group, with Cristiano Ronaldo missing out.

It's likely to be a very important few months for Haaland as his time at Borussia Dortmund comes to an end and he eyes up his next club.

The likes of Manchester City, Barcelona and Real Madrid have all been linked with the striker, and, considering how much they'll have to spend to sign him, whichever club lands him will be expecting a big return.

So far the Norwegian has been up to the task every time he's stepped up in quality, moving from Molde to Red Bull Salzburg to Dortmund, but if he wants to become one of the best in the world he'll have to step up again.

And if Haaland is setting his sights that high, and you'd imagine he is, then he's got his eyes on three extremely good players, who he thinks are the best in the world.

"Top 3 in the world," he said whilst talking to ESPN.

"You have to say [Robert] Lewandowski is number one and then for me you have [Karim] Benzema, he's also been amazing, but [Lionel] Messi is also outstanding.

"So Benzema and Messi share second and third place."

Lewandowski and Messi have each won one of the awards that names the best player in the world in recent months, with not everyone agreeing with the latter's award.

Messi won the Ballon d'Or at the end of last year, making it his seventh award, with most people thinking that Lewandowski was a more worthy winner.

The Bayern Munich striker missed out the year before because they decided to delay the award due to Covid, with Messi saying the Polish forward should have been awarded it in 2020.

'Lewa' has at least got his hands on the past two editions of the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award, beating Messi and Mohamed Salah earlier this month.

The lack of Salah on Haaland's list might shock some, but Benzema, who has threatened to leave Real if they sign Haaland, has also been in excellent form in the past year and many tipped the Real Madrid striker to win the Ballon d'Or.

Haaland's time at Dortmund is expected to finish in the summer, with all of Europe's biggest sides interested in the 21-year-old, and with reports that a transfer release clause kicks in at the end of the current campaign.

The striker recently hit out at his club for putting him under pressure to sign a new deal, potentially with the view to getting more money when they do sell him.

Speaking on Wednesday, he revealed he is ready to 'move on.'

"I don't really want to say too much about it [his previous remarks], but I felt it was time for me to say something," he told Viaplay.

"A lot of others were speaking - so that was it. Now, I don't want to say too much. I said what I said, and now we move on."