Mohamed Salah from Liverpool revealed that he started to think for the first time about winning the balloon d'Or after completing his move to Anfield in 2017.
Salah, together with Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele and Barcelona Duo Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, are among the favorites to win the individual prize this year.
The Egyptian enjoyed a fantastic season for the Arne Slot team, solving 34 goals and offering 23 assists in 52 performances in all competitions for the Reds.
He led Liverpool to their second top flight title in five years, while he also combined the record for most goals and assists in one Premier League campaign (47).
Salah was also the fifth different player in the Premier League history who was more than once named player of the season, after Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidic and Kevin De Bruyne.
The 33-year-old also claimed his fourth golden boot, who went most of the most with Henry in the competition, who struggled him firmly to lift the Ballon d'Or.
“If I win it, it would be great. If I don't win, I think my career will be very good,” Salah told France Football.
“But that image is always in my head. I just want to win it for my people. That's the thing in my head.”
The last – and alone – Liverpool player who won the balloon d'Or was Michael Owen in 2001.
Salah scored 32 goals and offered 10 assists in his debut campaign with Liverpool in the Premier League in 2017-18. After his spectacular form of form in 2024-25, he is the only player in the history of the competition that registers 40 or more target involvement in two separate seasons.
But despite his impressive consistency during his eight -year stay at Merseyside, Salah is never higher than fifth in the Ballon d'Or, who came in 2019, at the back of teammates Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk when Lionel Messi created the main prize.
Now, after winning both the Premier League and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year Awards last month, the former Chelsea and Roma Forward is hopeful that he can only become the second African who wins the prize – and will pay for his native Egypt.
“It was not in my head when I was so young, because if you play on the street in Egypt, you don't see yourself win the balloon,” Salah said.
“The first time it was activated when Ramy [Abbas, Salah’s agent] Speaked about it with me. I think I started to believe the lake in Liverpool, not in Rome.
“Several winners have been to thirty in recent years. So who knows?
“And then next season promises to be exciting with the defense of our title at Liverpool and the Champions League, Afcon with Egypt and the World Cup.”