Ballon d'Or Power Ranking: October 2019

#2 Virgil Van Dijk

Virgil Van Dijk is a force to be reckoned with

Some feel that Virgil Van Dijk was robbed of the FIFA Best Men's Player Award this year. After all, it has been ages since a defender created buzz like he has over the last couple of years. Having won the UEFA Champions League and ended as runners-up at the inaugural UEFA Nations League, Van Dijk is a top contender for the highly coveted Ballon d'Or.

It was Van Dijk's introduction to the fray that transformed Jurgen Klopp's hit or miss side into an absolute juggernaut that's just as efficient at scoring goals as they are at keeping them out. Van Dijk has become a human roadblock since securing a move to Liverpool and is already being compared to some of the Premier League greats.

It will be quite a departure from the recent trend should Van Dijk go on to win the Ballon d'Or although it would be difficult to disagree with that decision.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram