A steep price for leaving Barcelona? Lionel Messi misses out on Ballon d'Or nomination

Lionel Messi has paid a steep price for an unsatisfactory debut season with Paris Saint-Germain. The 30-person shortlist for this year's Ballon d'Or did not include the football player who is a seven-time winner of the coveted award.

As per AFP, Messi, who won the award last year, had been a consistent nominee since 2006 and with the exception of 2018, a constant inclusion in the top three since 2007.

He will not get the award in 2022 due to his move from Barcelona to the French capital and a change in the prize format.

The Ballon d'Or no longer honours the best player over the course of a calendar year, which has worked against the Argentine superstar.It is now determined on a season's performance, emphasising "the individual performances" and the "decisive and impressive character" of the nominees.

Following his departure from Barcelona in the summer of 2021, Messi was unable to imprint his brilliance on a PSG squad that was in desperate need of a Champions League victory.He only scored 11 goals for PSG in total, and the judges for the Ballon d'Or, which will be presented in Paris on October 17, were unimpressed by his mediocre club play.

The rest of the nominations aren't particularly surprising.

Karim Benzema, the French international striker who helped Real Madrid win their 14th Champions League title, is the clear favourite.He is joined on the 30-man roster by teammates Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, 2018 winner Luka Modric, Vinicius, and former Chelsea star Antonio Rudiger.

Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner for Manchester United, is nominated again this year.

Liverpool has the most nominees of any club with seven players: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Sadio Mane, who has since joined Bayern Munich, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil Van Dijk.

(With inputs from agencies)

Watch WION LIVE HERE: