The Daily Bee (December 3rd, 2019): Messi wins record 6th Ballon d’Or and BVB interested in Haaland

• Messi wins record 6th Ballon d’Or

Lionel Messi has won a record sixth Ballon d’Or leaving Cristiano Ronaldo with “only” five wins behind him. Virgil van Dijk finished second and Cristiano Ronaldo finished in third place. Robert Lewandowski was the only Bundesliga player in the top ten, coming in in eight place.

In addition, Megan Rapinoe won the women’s Ballon d’Or, Alisson Becker was voted best goalkeeper and Matthijs de Ligt won the Kopa Trophy for best young player. Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho was the runner-up in that category.

• Sancho off to Liverpool?

Rumors suggesting Jadon Sancho will leave Borussia Dortmund sooner rather than later are continuing, this time foemre Bundesliga player Jan Aage Fjortoft claiming a source has told him Liverpool are the favorites to sign Sancho.

A January move would be surprising but is not out of the question anymore. However, as much as Premier League fans and pundits would like this to happen this will surely depend on Dortmund’s ability to get a replacement for him. There is still no real pressure for BVB to sell and they would need an adequate player in return.

• Dortmund scouting Erling Haaland (Bild)

Borussia Dortmund clearly need another striker ad Hans-Joachim Watzke acknowledged as much during the annual general meeting, saying that it was a mistake not to not buy another striker. The black and yellows are now looking to rectify that mistake and RB Salzburg’s star centre forward Erling Haaland is reportedly one of the targets.

The Norwegian striker supposedly has a 30€ million release clause in his contract which BVB are willing to pay. Haaland has been one of the best strikers in Europa so far, scoring 27 goals in 20 games across all competitions, 8 of them in the Champions League.

BVB can offer him a guaranteed starting spot and a good track record of developing young players. A lot of teams are interested in the 19-year-old but him ending up in Dortmund is likely not as far fetched as it initially seems.