Ballon d’Or: Barcelona and Man City Legend Yaya Toure Believes Sadio Mane Deserves Award Over Karim Benzema

• Ivory Coast legend Yaya Toure is convinced that Sadio Mane deserves to win this year's Ballon d'Or award
• Mane is among the candidates to clinch the highest individual award in football but faces stiff competition from Karim Benzema
• The 30-year-old won three trophies last season, two with his club and one with his national side, Senegal

Yaya Toure has sparked the Ballon d'Or debate by claiming that Sadio Mane deserves it ahead of the perceived frontrunner Karim Benzema.

The two players are the hot favourites to succeed Lionel Messi as the best football player on the planet following their impressive season.

Many have already touted Benzema as the outright winner, with the Real Madrid striker being in a class of his own last season. Benzema led Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga titles.

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Mane, meanwhile, missed the Premier League by a whisker to Manchester City. He won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup with Liverpool but most importantly, he led Senegal to its first-ever Africa Cup of Nations title. He has since switched sides and joined Bayern Munich.

Toure now believes that Mane had a better season than Benzema as quoted by Goal.

I see that Mane has played in a lot of matches and that he has suffered from very few injuries.

He is hardly ever injured, he is very strong physically. He's also a good guy, a good person that I know personally. I want the best for him.

I hope he will have a good World Cup tournament and I hope he won't just be ranked high but win the Ballon d'Or. Sadio Mane is a great player and a great person.

Mane scored 21 goals for Liverpool last season and will lead his Senegal team to Qatar for the World Cup. Senegal will play the Netherlands, the hosts Qatar and Ecuador.

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Sadio Mane begins pre-season training after signing for Bayern Munich

Sports Brief had earlier reported that newly-signed Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane had commenced full-scale training with the reigning German champions.

Mane switched the Premier League for the German top-flight after spending six seasons with Liverpool in a deal worth £35.1 million.

The 2021 AFCON winner penned a lucrative three-year deal with the Bavarian giants, making him the highest-paid African footballer with a weekly wage of £250,000.