Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville believe Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is among the best players in the world alongside Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe.
With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both past their peak, for the first time in years we are entering a new era in the battle for individual prizes.
Mbappe is staking a claim to be named the best player in the world and, at 23-years-old, the Frenchman will surely achieve that one day.
Salah has 19 goals and 10 assists to his name in the Premier League this season and he is the driving force behind Liverpool 's pursuit of the quadruple.
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Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski can also stake a claim to the title along with Salah and Mbappe.
"I think we are already in that era now," said Jamie Carragher to Sky Sports.
"Messi picked up the last Ballon d'Or but I do think that will be the last time we see Messi or Ronaldo pick that trophy up.
"I think the new generation is ready to take that mantle on.
"...I think the toss-up for me would be between Salah and Mbappe. They would be the two who would split people now in the way Messi and Ronaldo have split people for so many years.
"But I think the season Salah is having, and the numbers he's got compared to anyone else in the Premier League, which is the best league in the world right now, just shows how far ahead of everybody else in the Premier League he is."
Gary Neville added: "For the first time in years, if you asked people which player in the world they would sign if they could only pick one, no one would say Messi or Ronaldo, they would likely say Mbappe, Haaland, Salah, Lewandowski.
"You would be naming players other than Ronaldo and Messi, and that is the clearest sign that while these two are still operating at the highest level, they are fading from the levels they were at before.
"They are no longer the best players in the world."
