Who will be the next English player to win the men’s Ballon d’Or? Steve McManaman makes surprise pick after Ousmane Dembele takes 2025 award

Michael Owen was the last to do it, in 2001, after his emergence as one of the most potent young strikers in world football for Liverpool and England.

Since then, though, it has been a barren spell for the sport’s founding nation. Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard finished second and third, respectively, in 2005, and more recently, Jude Bellingham finished third in 2023.

But the dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo gave very few others a look in.

However, former Liverpool winger and TNT Sports expert Steve McManaman has claimed an English player could be in contention next year.

Asked if Bellingham and Cole Palmer are England’s greatest hope, McManaman said: “The names mentioned absolutely could win it, but they have to be successful.

“If you were asking me now, I’d say the next winner would be Harry Kane because he’ll score another 50 goals this year if he stays fit.

“(Bayern Munich) will win the league because Leverkusen and Dortmund are a lot weaker. They should win the German Cup; it all depends on the Champions League and they’ve got a wonderful chance.

“They shouldn’t have lost to Inter last year, they should’ve got further. So Harry could easily do it.

“Jude in the future, but when you’ve got Vini (Junior) and Kylian (Mbappe) in the same team, one takes off the other.

“Cole Palmer is an exceptional player – I adore the way he plays, he’s a typical player who I like.

“For them to win the league and the Champions League is a long way off at this moment in time. Chelsea are still all over the place.”

Mohamed Salah finished fourth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or ranking, behind Paris Saint-Germain’s Vitinha and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal.

The Egyptian was prolific in 2024/25, scoring 34 goals and providing 23 assists across all competitions for Liverpool.

But he was hindered by The Reds’ failure to advance beyond the last 16 in the UEFA Champions League.

McManaman insisted the 33-year-old could still win the award, but acknowledged the need for collective success, despite his assertion that Salah’s form over a long period has been “way better than Dembele’s”.

“I still think he’s got a chance but everything has to fall into line, of course,” McManaman said.

“If Liverpool win the league and the Champions League, and he scores the goals that he’s been scoring, he’ll win it. It’s just that things haven’t fallen into line.

“He’s got AFCON this year – they (Egypt) might win that and that’ll propel him forward. But he certainly deserves it because of what he’s achieved.

“Unfortunately he’s just come up against Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their pomp, and they were winning leagues and Champions Leagues at the same time.

“It’d be nice for him to be rewarded because his form over eight, nine years has been exceptional, and not many people in Europe have done that.

“It’s just one standout year here for Dembele who wins it, whereas Mo’s form has been remarkable over eight, nine years, way better than Dembele’s.

“Someone gets a standout year, gets all the headlines, and then these people who make the decisions give the awards out.

“I don’t think it’ll necessarily bother Mo – people who know football know how good he is, know that he’s an outstanding player and one of the best in the world, and has been for a number of years.

“But it’s a different type of award and I wouldn’t read too much into it, particularly now. It’s seemingly more of a popularity contest than ever now.”

Salah, who has three goals and three assists to his name from seven appearances so far this season, has yet to finish in the top three of the Ballon d’Or voting.