The 26-year-old Manchester United striker has already scored 13 goals in 15 appearances for club and country this season and doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.
Ballon d’Or award shorlist of 23 names is dominated by European champions Barcelona, which has eight nominations including arguably the game’s greatest current Lionel Messi.
Messi will be attempting to win the award for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, the Catalan club’s arch rivals Real Madrid have five players on the shortlist.
While City fans will doubtless be delighted to see Sergio Aguero’s name on the list they may be surprised at David Silva’s omission. The only other Premier League player to be recognised is Liverpool’s Luis Suarez.
Arsenal fans were unhappy that Robin van Perise, who cracked in a hat-trick against Chelsea at the weekend, was not included.
@_xNear tweeted: “Why does Van Persie not being in the Ballon d’Or list surprise people? Thierry Henry never got it so don’t expect to come Arsenals way.”
And wrote: “Screw the Ballon D’Or Robin, us gooners know you’re the best striker in the world right now!”
There was further recognition for the Premier League as United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas were nominated in the coach of the year category though the latter’s inclusion would refer to his success with FC Porto.
The list will be reduced down to three on Dec 5 with the winner being announced in Zurich on Jan 9.
Player nominees: Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).
