Manchester United star Paul Pogba says he does not deserve to win Ballon d'Or

Champion: Paul Pogba
AFP/Getty Images
Alex Young @alexwsyoung10 October 2018

Paul Pogba insists he does not deserve to win the Ballon d'Or but hopes one of France's World Cup winners is honoured.

The Manchester United midfielder is on the 30-man shortlist for the award, the sport's premier individual prize, which will be handed out in Paris in early December.

There were seven Frenchmen named on the list after helping Les Bleus win their second World Cup in Russia this summer.

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante and Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris are in contention, along with Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe, Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann and Real Madrid's Champions League-winning duo Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema.

"Whether it's Grizou (Griezmann), Kylian (Mbappe) or Raph' (Varane), they deserve it much more than me," Pogba told AFP.

"I can not designate one. But I hope with all my heart that this is one of the three.

"One of the four also because there is NG (Kante). That's all I hope for anyway, because there are many who deserve it. I do not put myself in."

Every Ballon d'Or since 2008 has been won by either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi and the pair are both among the favourites again this year.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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