TOP STORIES - Ferdinand ‘baffled’ by Jorginho being a Ballon d’Or contender

Rio Ferdinand says he is ‘baffled’ by calls for Chelsea midfielder Jorginho to win the Ballon d’Or as reported on Metro. 

Jorginho is one of the frontrunners to win the award after playing a key role in Chelsea’s success in the Champions League last season. The midfielder also played a pivotal role in helping Italy win Euro 2020 in the summer.

But Ferdinand believes Jorginho should not be one of the leading contenders for this year’s Ballon d’Or. And the former Manchester United defender feels Jorginho’s Chelsea teammate, N’Golo Kante, delivered more influential performances during the latter stages of last season’s Champions League campaign under Thomas Tuchel.

"The Jorginho one baffles me," Ferdinand told BT Sport.

"He’s not the best player at Chelsea and he’s not the first name on the teamsheet with Italy either. Listen, he’s a very good player and I’m not trying to be disrespectful but I don’t see how he gets on the list with those players at the level those guys have been playing at."

"If you look at Chelsea in the run-in to winning the Champions League I think Kante was man of the match in five of the last six games so it baffles me. He’s won two of the big trophies I get that, I understand it but when you’re putting him up against the four other players there it doesn’t really make sense to me."