Two shock names emerged in the race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, according to reports in France.

Two shock names emerged in the race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, according to reports in France.

For the first time in almost two decades, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi are in the conversation for the Ballon d’Or.

Indeed, the pair have won 13 Ballon d’Ors between them, with Messi having claimed eight, including last year’s edition, and Ronaldo on five.

But this year, with the duo in the twilight of their respective careers, a new generation of players is set to contest for football’s most lauded individual honour.

Real Madrid duo Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr have long been in the conversation for this year’s Ballon d’Or, with the former having starred in his first season with the La Liga giants, setting up the latter to score in the Champions League final.

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s Rodri is also thought to be among the leading contenders, having helped his club to a record fourth-successive Premier League title and won Spain’s record fourth European Championship title.

Martinez scored the winner in the Copa America final (Getty)

However, according to L’Equipe Argentina star Lautaro Martinez is also in contention for the Ballon d’Or, after scoring five goals in his six Copa America games, including the winner in Sunday’s final.

For Inter last term, Martinez also racked up 24 goals and provided six assists in 33 games for Inter, who claimed the Serie A title.

Meanwhile, the publication has also alleged that Dani Carvajal is in the running.

The right-back won his fourth La Liga title and his sixth Champions League crown at Real Madrid last season, scoring the opening goal in the latter’s final.

Carvajal was also a regular in the Spain team as they won Euro 2024, beating England 2-1 in the competition’s final.

It was a transfer like no other at the time.

Manchester United once signed a nine-year-old footballer off the back of seeing his compilation video - but what has happened to the player now?

Nowadays, the Internet is flooded with stories of young academy prospects who are tipped to become the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, while any spectacular moment at amateur levels will quickly go viral.

Back in 2007, though, things were slightly different. YouTube had only been founded two years earlier in the United States, while you might struggle to find many people who knew what Twitter was. The closest you got to TikTok was waiting another two years for Kesha to release her hit song.

The best way to get a top club to notice you was either by chance - an encounter at a local game, for instance - or by sending a DVD directly to the club in the hope that they would see it.

While some managers might not always get back to young players, there are plenty of stories of Sir Alex Ferguson doing exactly the opposite.

An 18-year-old, newly released by Macclesfield, once delivered his own compilation DVD directly to Ferguson's home address in Wilmslow - with the United boss promising to watch it.

The Scot did just that, and subsequently invited the player for a trial.

In the case of Davis, his grandad sent over a DVD of the nine-year-old playing football in Brisbane, Australia, where his family was living at the time.

United scouts watched the videos, invited him to participate in several training sessions and then offered him a contract.

Davis would play in the same age group as Marcus Rashford, telling The Athletic in 2023 that the future United and England star was 'the standout and always has been'.

The midfielder continued to work his way up through the youth ranks, but then suffered a broken leg when he was 14 years old.

Davis described the injury as a 'turning point' as far as United's subsequent decision not to give him a scholarship contract at 15, but also added: "It was all up in the air, and what is to say I would get one? I probably wasn't going to. But it didn't help the process and it didn't help me going on to look elsewhere."

After working his way back to full fitness, Davis decided to focus on his education and went to university, where he studied business and economics in Sheffield.

Although he now works full-time in finance, the midfielder - who is now 26 - has remained in football, and is still based in Lancashire.

After a spell with Altrincham, Davis has most recently been playing his club football for Manchester-based West Didsbury & Chorlton, who play in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

The club has been home to a number of high-profile players over recent years, including current Bolton winger Carlos Mendes Gomes and Gibraltar international Jack Sargeant.

Last week, he signed for divisional rivals Cheadle Town, who finished a position above the midfielder's former club last season.

Twitter

On his current life, Davis told The Athletic: "Things didn't turn out how I wished for at United, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

"People still make tongue-in-cheek comments [about the YouTube video] in passing, but nothing like they used to!

"One kid used to call me wonderkid... it is all fun and games."