Recently, Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for an incredible 7th time while even at the age of 36, Cristiano Ronaldo was in the mix, with the Manchester United superstar finishing at sixth. And the longevity that the two have shown is extraordinary to say the least. It is hard to imagine we will see anything like this in our lifetimes again although never say never in football.
There is no denying though that both legends are in the twilight years of their careers and are starting to slow down a bit now. And all eyes will now be turning towards youngsters, who could go on to dominate the game in the future.
The Kopa Trophy is awarded to the best performing young player under the age of 21. In past years, it had been won by Kylian Mbappe and Matthijs de Ligt. And this time around, it went to FC Barcelona’s Pedri. Ronaldo though, voted for one of his Manchester United teammates.
As reported by the Mirror, Ronaldo, as well as Luka Modric, voted for Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood to be crowned the world’s best young player. The Portuguese legend’s other two picks were Nuno Mendes and Giovanni Reyna.
Ronaldo voted for the Manchester United star as the world’s best young player
Things have certainly not been going Greenwood’s way in recent times. Not too long ago, it had looked like he had nailed down his place in Manchester United’s starting XI and his early season displays were very promising.
But following the arrival of Ronaldo in the summer, the Manchester United youngster has found first-team opportunities harder to come by.
In fact, recently he has been left as an unused substitute at times. One can only hope that Greenwood can find his way back into the team as soon as possible because he is too good of a player to be sitting on the bench.