The Ballon d’Or ceremony was a bleak reminder of wasted potential for one Man Utd man

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The Ballon d’Or ceremony will have had one Manchester United man reminiscing on what could have been.

Lionel Messi scooped up his record eighth Ballon d’Or last night in the French capital, which now puts him three ahead of United legend Cristiano Ronaldo and further cementing his immortal footballing status.

No Manchester United players were present other than Andre Onana in the world rankings, who finished 23rd in the overall voting.

But one United man may be thinking he should’ve been there, considering two other huge prodigies that scooped featured prominently.

Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham outshine Jadon Sancho

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham had phenomenal nights at the coveted awards, unlike their former Borussia Dortmund teammate – Jadon Sancho.

Haaland finished second in the entire rankings, just being pipped by Messi. This is after his phenomenal record-breaking season, where he also picked up an elusive treble with the Cityzen’s.

Bellingham, who came 18th in the overall vote, said there was “more to come” as he won the Kopa trophy for the best under-21 male player.

Two players that have already amounted to dizzying heights at such young ages, with ‘more to come’, as Bellingham states. A stark contrast to that of Sancho.

Jadon Sancho wasting his potential

Sancho was once deemed ‘one of the best players in the world‘ and scarily enough, had more potential to succeed in football than that of Haaland or Bellingham.

Fast forward to the present day, Sancho isn’t even allowed near the first-team squad due to a falling out with Erik ten Hag, has just 12 goals in 82 United appearances and is destined to be shipped out of Old Trafford. Hideous.

The successes of his former teammates will serve as a cruel reminder of what could have been for Sancho. He only really has himself to blame.

He may go on to achieve things in football, who knows, but this is increasingly looking less likely to come to fruition at Manchester United.