Fabrizio Romano’s Bold Take: PSG Loanee and Real Madrid Star Should Have Made Ballon d’Or Top 30

The list for the Ballon d’Or was revealed this week, but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano believes that three names were omitted. Here are the names that made it into the final 30:

• Jude Bellingham

• Ruben Dias

• Phil Foden

• Federico Valverde

• Emiliano Martinez

• Erling Haaland

• Nico Williams

• Granit Xhaka

• Artem Dovbyk

• Toni Kroos

• Vinicius Jr.

• Dani Olmo

• Florian Wirtz

• Martin Odegaard

• Mats Hummels

• Rodri

• Harry Kane

• Declan Rice

• Vitinha

• Cole Palmer

• Dani Carvajal

• Lamine Yamal

• Bukayo Saka

• Hakan Calhanoglu

• William Saliba

• Kylian Mbappe

• Lautaro Martinez

• Ademola Lookman

• Toni Rudiger

• Alejandro Grimaldo

Still, Romano noted in his column for CaughtOffside that there are a couple of players who should have the final 30. One of them is Paris Saint-Germain loanee Xavi Simons, who had an excellent 2023-24 season while on loan with RB Leipzig.

“I won’t comment on my favorite candidate for this year’s award, but in general I think it was a fair list,” Romano stated. “It’s almost an impossible job to narrow down the names and I’d have probably added Rodrygo, Xavi Simons and  [Jeremie] Frimpong. Rodrygo has even gone on social media already to show his feelings about his omission.”

While on loan at RB Leipzig last season, Simons made a strong impression by playing in 43 matches across all competitions. He scored 10 goals and provided 15 assists.