Former Chelsea ace Eden Hazard has said it would be "beautiful" if Liverpool's Sadio Mane won the Ballon d'Or this year.
The annual award will be presented next week in Paris, with Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk the current favourite to win it, although he faces competition from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Van Dijk's Liverpool team-mates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have also been listed among the 30 candidates for the award, although neither are considered to be among the frontrunners.
However, Hazard believes both should be in contention to win the award, after helping Liverpool win the Champions League last season, and with the Reds currently sitting top of the Premier League with an eight-point advantage.
“I would give it to a Liverpool player. Mané, Salah or Van Djik deserve it," the former Chelsea star told Le Parisien.
"If Sadio had won AFCON with Senegal, there would have been no debate. It would be beautiful if he won it. Or Momo (Salah), who is one of my friends. It would be a good thing for both African and English football.”
Hazard is also on the list of 30 candidates for the Ballon d'Or 2019, having helped Chelsea win the Europa League prior to his big-money move to Real Madrid in the summer.
The Belgian was also named on the shortlist last season for the award after helping his country to the semi-finals of the World Cup and winning the FA Cup with Chelsea, but the Ballon d'Or went to Luka Modric, who is now team-mates with the former Blues star at Real Madrid.
Liverpool have seven nominees for the award, with Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Georginio Wijnaldum also on the 30-man list.
Elsewhere, Premier League champions Manchester City have five nominees, with Chelsea's London rivals Tottenham having two men on the 30-strong list - Son Heung-min and Hugo Lloris - while Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is also on the list.
