Lionel Messi is everyone's favorite to win the Ballon d'Or. No one would ever dispute that. And yet one could argue that Neymar has as much of a claim to the trophy as Messi does and that he could be the surprise winner when all is said and done.

Messi's biggest claim to the trophy is his ability to lead Barcelona to a treble in 2014-15 and the plethora of goals and assists that he put up on the way to winning the treble. Yet Neymar's contributions should not be ignored by any means.

Messi has 48 goals and 25 assists in 2015, but Neymar actually has 45 goals on the year coupled with 13 assists. Neymar has 58 games played in 2015 while his colleague has 57. Messi obviously has better stats across the board, but Neymar has actually been the MVP this fall as he has led Barcelona through tough times without Messi. If anyone were to pick an MVP for Blaugrana in 2015-16 to this point, it would have to be Neymar. He leads the team in scoring and has been a huge assister to Luis Suarez all this time. He had a four-goal effort at one point, something Messi has never done in 2015. He is also scoring at a higher rate than his teammate while putting up fewer shots on goal, emphasizing that Neymar is a far more efficient goalscorer these days than the Argentine.

There is also the question of strong streaks to end the year. Messi's tremendous run to win the 2012 trophy was buoyed by scoring 40 goals across the final four months of the year. Cristiano Ronaldo was on fire to end 2013 and 2014, scoring close to 40 goals in both years to capture the trophy as well. Neymar is not scoring at that exorbitant rate, but he is undoubtedly the best goalscorer in the world at this present moment and has rounded out his creative play in the process as well.

There is of course one thing that tips the scales decidedly in Messi's scale and that is the Copa America this past summer. While Neymar left the tournament in disgrace after losing his temper against Colombia, Messi, without scoring a single goal, singlehandedly led Argentina to the final before his teammates let him down in typical fashion. This performance alone may warrant Messi to be considered the main man of the hour, despite the very fact that he has been absent for quite some time this fall.

Will Neymar win the trophy? Probably at some point in the coming years. But it is unlikely that he finishes second this year, unseating Ronaldo in a huge way.

Related