If Erling Haaland loses the Ballon d’Or to Lionel Messi, ESPN commentator Craig Burley has urged him to “never go back” to the “claptrap” honors.

France Football has already announced the final 30 players who will compete for the Ballon d’Or. Notably, five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t even nominated this year due to his lackluster performance in the Qatar World Cup and subsequent move to the Saudi Pro League in January.

On the other hand, Messi is a heavy favorite to win his eighth Ballon d’Or. The 36-year-old scored a goal that helped lead Argentina to a World Cup win in December, despite having moved to the MLS after a less-than-stellar two years with Paris Saint-Germain.

Haaland, meantime, had a sensational season in which he set numerous scoring records in the Premier League and helped City achieve an unprecedented triple. His treble-winning heroics put him in the running for the honor and make him a serious rival to Messi.

Burley, a former Chelsea and Scotland midfielder, thinks the Norwegian should win this year for his club’s achievements, and he even suggested that if Messi were to beаt him to the trophy, the Norwegian should boycott the ceremony in the future.

Burley said, via SportBible: “If Erling Haaland doesn’t win this, shut the shop.” Although Messi’s World Cup victory is certainly noteworthy, it should be noted that the tournament only lasts for four weeks. His performance in the league as a whole was below par. Poor performance by PSG.

A: “Erling Haaland? Scored more than 50 goals and won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League. This honor should go to Erling Haaland. I know many of you just can’t help but ride the Messi hype train, but step back and take a look at the big picture.

A lot of journalist dummies are going to vote for Messi. Erling Haaland’s accomplishments were spread out over many years. Like past prizes, this one annoys me, but he’s the one who deserves it. Unfortunately, I predict that the press release announcing his win will be full of mushy nonsense like, “Messi won the World Cup, Messi’s this and Messi’s that, and they’ll just hand him another one.”

Also, “if I were Erling Haaland, I wouldn’t return to another Ballon d’Or in my life, just like Robert Lewandowski,” he said.

Since joining City, Haaland’s career has skyrocketed, and he is now considered among the sport’s all-time greats. Even though Messi led Argentina to their third world title with a penalty shootout victory over France, it is still unclear if he will earn his record eighth Ballon d’Or for his efforts.

On October 30 at Paris’s Theatre du Chatelet, the winners of this year’s Ballon d’Or will be announced.