'Mbappe will dominate Ballon d'Or after Messi & Ronaldo' - PSG star already in world's top three, says Saha

Kylian Mbappe is ‘guaranteed’ to win the Ballon d’Or as he is already among the best three players in the world alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Louis Saha.

Still just 21, Mbappe has enjoyed another spectacular season with 30 goals and 19 assists in 36 appearances, and he has been a key figure in Paris Saint-Germain’s run to the Champions League final.

In Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, PSG will be facing the man who had been tipped by many to win his first Ballon d’Or this season – only to see the award cancelled by organisers France Football.

Messi and Ronaldo have monopolised the award in the last decade, winning 11 of the last 12 titles between them, but Mbappe is widely expected to follow in their footsteps.

“Kylian Mbappe is guaranteed to win the Ballon d’Or and it is only a matter of time until he is officially the best player in the world,” Saha said on the Football Index Podcast.

“He’s just returned from injury and he is destroying teams in the latter stages of the Champions League at will with the quality of his runs and his movement.

“To be doing this at his age, I am speechless.”

Despite Mbappe’s youth, he has achieved an astonishing amount in his career so far.

He has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last four seasons – topping 30 in the last two – and won every domestic title on offer in France, as well as the World Cup.

Adding a Champions League title to that list would hardly hurt his chances of being considered the best in the world, but Saha believes Mbappe is already right up there.

“For me, Mbappe is already definitely in the top three players in the world right now,” he said.

“There is obviously a massive difference between him and Messi and Ronaldo, but this is because they have done it for 10 years.

“I do think that when Messi and Ronaldo end their careers, Mbappe will be their successor who dominates.”

Mbappe and PSG’s date with destiny against Bayern Munich is on Sunday, August 23, at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.