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.

Sir Alex Ferguson will go down in history as one of football’s greatest-ever managers.

Sir Alex Ferguson "worst ever signing" was recommended to him by the legendary Eric Cantona but ended up playing just two times.

Back in December 1995, Manchester United were in the middle of a injury crisis in central defence. Key senior defenders Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and David May were all unavailable for selection.

United needed a new centre-back and quickly. Cantona suggested a mate who he had played with at the Auxerre academy.

William Prunier, 28, jumped at the chance to move to the Red Devils and bought himself out of his contract at Bordeaux to secure a dream transfer.

It was initially on a trial basis, the idea being that United could look at Prunier during training sessions and see if he was up to scratch.

But then that plan never worked out and due to another injury blow, this time to the uber reliable Denis Irwin, Prunier was thrown into deep-end.

He performed well in his debut, even getting an assist for Andy Cole in a 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers on 30 December.

He also smashed a long-range effort against the bar and looked like he could do a job for United.

But the second Premier League outing did not got anywhere near as smoothly after Ferguson had said it would be the real test for Prunier.

United, with their makeshift backline, travelled to White Hart Lane to play Spurs just days later and their preparations were affected by Paul Scholes falling ill before kick-off, and Peter Schmeichel pulling his calf but soldiering on as best he could for the first 45 minutes.

What followed was a crushing 4-1 defeat on New Year's Day, a result that put an end to Prunier's United experience.

He was said to have been offered an "extended trial" despite the player himself claiming a three-year deal was on the table but couldn't be thrashed out.

Getty

Prunier amassed nearly 500 appearances and, in addition to winning the Intertoto Cup alongside Zinedine Zidane at Bordeaux, played for Auxerre, Copenhagen, Marseille, Napoli and Toulouse.

He did also sign a deal with Hearts but never played a single game after not feeling wanted.

Prunier was capped once by France and named in the 2002/03 Ligue One Team of the Year.

Asked if being described as a flop annoys him, Prunier told The Telegraph: "No, everyone thinks what they want. It was a very enriching experience, a dream and an honour, and I don’t regret it."