Messi STILL the bookies' favourite to win his eight Ballon d'Or ahead of Haaland

Lionel Messi is still the favourite to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or ahead of Erling Haaland despite Manchester City's historic treble success.

Messi announced this week that after securing back-to-back Ligue 1 title wins with PSG he is leaving the French club to join MLS side Inter Miami.

As well as the Ligue 1 championship win, Messi's season also included Argentina's World Cup win as the 35-year-old was named player of the tournament in Qatar.

Those exploits have the Argentinian superstar the front-runner to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or, with Paddy Power making him the 8/15 favourite to bag his eighth award.

Messi is ahead of Manchester City's treble heroes Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, who are listed as 11/8 and 11/1 respectively to win the Ballon d'Or, which is handed out later in the year.

Haaland has already bagged the Football Writers Award for Player of the Year and been named the Premier League Player of the Season, thanks to his 52-goal haul for Manchester City in his first season with the club.

His goals have helped City match rivals Man Utd in winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season, alongside Kevin De Bruyne, who racked up another 16 top flight assists, too.

Outside the top three candidates to win the award, current Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema is next on the list and ranked at 80/1 to win the gong.

Following the Frenchman - who has just secured a lucrative move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad - is Harry Kane at 80/1 and Messi's PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, also at 80/1.

Kane racked up 32 goals in a disappointing season for Tottenham, and became both Spurs and England's record goal-scorer in 2023.

While Mbappe scored another 41 goals for PSG, and bagged the Golden Boot at the World Cup - becoming only the second player in the history of the tournament to score a hat-trick in the final.