Ex-Purbrook Park pupil and Portsmouth fan listed for Ballon d'Or alongside Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Lewandowski

The former Purbrook Park School pupil is alongside Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe among a 30-strong list for the 2021 honour.

The Ballon d'Or, organised by France Football, is awarded annually to the world's best footballer.

Messi has claimed it six times, most recently in 2019, while it was postponed last year because of coronavirus.

Now Chelsea and England’s Mount finds himself rubbing shoulders with the greatest players in the world in competing for the highly-prized trophy.

This year, the 22-year-old won the Champions League trophy and was part of an England side which reached the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

There are 14 Premier League players listed, with four England performers – Mount, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Harry Kane.

Meanwhile, there are five members of Italy’s Euro 2020 winning squad, including Mount’s Chelsea team-mate Jorginho.

Manchester United's Ronaldo, who has won it five times, and Luka Modric (Real Madrid) are the only players other than Messi to claim the award since 2008.

They are again both nominated for the 2021 event, with the winner to be announced on November 29 at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet.

Meanwhile, England's Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) and Bakayo Saka (Arsenal) are among the 10 nominees for the Kopa Trophy, which recognises players under the age of 21.

Nominees: Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea, Spain), Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan, Italy), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus, Italy), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus, Italy), Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal), Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG, Italy), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Portugal), Phil Foden (Manchester City, England), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund, Norway), Jorginho (Chelsea, Italy), Harry Kane (Tottenham, England), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea, France), Simon Kjaer (AC Milan, Denmark), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Poland), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea, Belgium), Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan, Argentina), Kylian Mbappe (PSG, France), Lionel Messi (PSG, Argentina), Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia), Gerard Moreno (Villarreal, Spain), Mason Mount (Chelsea, England), Neymar (PSG, Brazil), Pedri (Barcelona, Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City, England), Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay).

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