Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini has been hailed by Roberto De Zerbi as one who should be in the running to win this year’s Ballon D’Or, alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Chelsea’s Jorginho.

Italy were thoroughly impressive this summer in winning Euro 2020, and naturally a number of players have come in for praise after such a display, with Giorgio Chiellini and Jorginho amongst those highest reaping the plaudits.

The Chelsea midfielder has already been tipped as a potential Ballon D’Or winner, not only for his role in the European Championships triumph, but for his key role in his club’s impressive Champions League victory also, while team-mate Emerson played a bit-part role in winning both trophies.

While some will claim the former Napoli stars mention is solely down to his trophy haul in 2021, his performances in winning both were of the highest calibre, and he does actually deserve to be in the running.

De Zerbi insists that Chiellini deserves to be amongst the front-runners also however, mainly due to his exploits at euro 2020 however, but Juventus’s struggles domestically may well hamper that.

La Gazzetta asked the recently appointed Shakhtar Donetsk boss whether Jorginho deserved to be in the running for the Ballon, to which he replied: “If you look at the trophies he’s won, he deserves it. He is such a smart midfielder. When I was at Sassuolo, I used to tell Maxime Lopez to watch him closely because he sees football one hour before the others.

“You won’t notice him many times, but he was one of Italy’s key players with Gigio Donnarumma, Leo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.

“However, Messi remains Messi and, until he plays, will be among the candidates. Fabio Cannavaro won the Ballon D’Or in the past, so I don’t see why Chiellini should not win it for the spirit he had at the Euros.”

Could Giorgio’s Euro 2020 showing be enough to clinch the title?

Patrick