City have three players in this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist – with just five Premier League stars making the final 23 in total.

Kevin De Bruyne, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero have all been nominated – though surprisingly David Silva has once again been overlooked.

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez are the other two English-based stars though only Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona have more players in than City.

The Fifa Ballon d’Or shortlist in full is: Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Manchester City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/VfL Wolfsburg/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain), Andres Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/FC Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Netherlands/FC Bayern Munich), James Rodriguez (Colombia/Real Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona), Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Juventus/FC Bayern Munich).