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Rio Ferdinand Baffled At Player's 2021 Ballon d'Or Challenge, Says It 'Doesn't Really Make Sense'

Rio Ferdinand Baffled At Player's 2021 Ballon d'Or Challenge, Says It 'Doesn't Really Make Sense'

Rio Ferdinand claimed Ballon d'Or nominee Jorginho is "not the best player at Chelsea" and "not the first name on the teamsheet with Italy."

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand says that it “baffles” him how Chelsea star Jorginho is challenging for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award.

Jorginho, 29, enjoyed a successful campaign with Chelsea that culminated with the Blues’ Champions League final win over Manchester City.

The Italian midfielder added more silverware to his trophy cabinet after Italy beat England in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

Jorginho, who was named on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or, has admitted that he can challenge for France Football’s sought-after prize.

However, only four per cent of fans voted for the Chelsea star to win the Ballon d'Or in a BT Sport poll.

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi took home the lion’s share of the vote with 51 per cent, while Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski came second with 26 per cent.

BT Sport

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Liverpool star Mohamed Salah finished ahead of Jorginho in the poll with 19 per cent of the vote.

Speaking on BT Sport, Ferdinand claimed that Jorginho is “not the best player at Chelsea” and “not the first name on the teamsheet with Italy.”

The BT Sport pundit explained: “The Jorginho one baffles me.

“He’s not the best player at Chelsea and he’s not the first name on the teamsheet with Italy either.

“Listen, he’s a very good player and I’m not trying to be disrespectful but I don’t see how he gets on the list with those players at the level those guys have been playing at.

“If you look at Chelsea in the run-in to winning the Champions League, I think Kante was man of the match in five of the last six games so it baffles me.

“He’s won two of the big trophies I get that, I understand it but when you’re putting him up against the four other players there, it doesn’t really make sense to me.”

PA

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Ferdinand believes that Lewandowski, who was the favourite to win the 2020 Ballon d'Or before it was cancelled, should win the award ahead of Messi and Jorginho.

“I think this year, Lewandowski, yeah,” Ferdinand said.

“56 goal involvements in 38 games is ridiculous. That is Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi numbers.”

The winner of the 2021 Ballon d'Or will be revealed at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on 29th November.

Featured Image Credit: PA/BT Sport

Topics: Rio Ferdinand, Jorginho, Chelsea, Premier League, England, Football

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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