Paul Scholes predicted player to win Ballon d'Or ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but it never happened

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes previously named one player who could potentially win the Ballon d'Or ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo and Messi will forever be remembered as two of the sport's greatest ever players.

The pair have a combined total of 13 Ballon d'Or trophies, eight for Messi and five for Ronaldo.

In recent years, the only players to have stopped the pair from finishing top of the voting had been Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Rodri.

Back in 2015, United and England legend Scholes was asked about the winner of the Ballon d'Or.

Speaking about Ronaldo's triumph in 2014, Scholes said to The Independent: "There can be no arguments with the outcome. It has been a fantastic season for Ronaldo, the World Cup finals aside.

"He has won the Champions League and been prolific in his goalscoring. Having played with him for six years at United, I know he has earned every plaudit he gets."

When asked to predict the 2015 winner, Scholes mentioned then-Real Madrid star Gareth Bale as someone who could potentially threaten Messi and Ronaldo.

He added: "As for next year, I would say that Gareth Bale has got his work cut out getting ahead of Messi and Ronaldo to win his first Ballon d’Or. I think it will be between those two again."

Paul Scholes is often regarded as one of England's finest ever footballers. Image: Getty

Scholes was also asked whether he would've liked to have won the Ballon d'Or, he replied: "I was not even the best player in the dressing room at Manchester United. It would have been pushing it to make a claim to be the best footballer in the world.

"That is how I regarded the two awards, the European Footballer of the Year and the Fifa World Player, until they merged. At United there were so many good players in the club that your first task was to get into the team."

Scholes continued: "Then make sure the club was successful on the pitch. I could not tell you if I was ever on the longlist for either of them because, for the 22 years of my life as a professional footballer, my thoughts rarely strayed beyond whether the manager was going to pick me for the next game."