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I think it's safe to say that Juventus midfielder and noted badass Paul Pogba is having a pretty good 24 hours or so. First, he spent Monday afternoon officially signing his new contract extension and subsequent handsome raise, which was announced by the club late last week. Now, as the sun prepares to rise over in Europe, Pogba is getting serious international recognition by a whole lot of people.
Like, serious serious serious international recognition, people.
Pogba — who was named the best young player at the World Cup this summer — has been named as one of the 23 nominees for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, joining the likes of Messi and Ronaldo and almost the entire Bayern Munich squad for one of the sport's most prestigious honors. Not exactly like this shortlist is all that short, but you'll just have to deal with it. Plus Pogba.
CONFIRMED: The 23 contenders for the FIFA #BallondOr revealed - http://t.co/ZNA2ZyR82O pic.twitter.com/nFsWC2QmZk
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) October 28, 2014
Dude is 21 years old, guys. Let me just remind you of that first of all. Secondly, Pogba is easily the youngest nominee on the list above — it's not even close — and Serie A's lone representative. That can be considered both a good and a bad thing about the state of the league, but we won't get into that right now. Mainly because of one reason: Pogba, Paul Pogba.
Pogba won't win it, but that's okay. Just the fact that he's there is a pretty outstanding honor, no matter how you feel about the award's prestige these days. Paul Pogba is considered by the sport's governing body to have had one of the best seasons in the world last year. Seriously, that's pretty impressive.
Then again, when you can do stuff like the gif that's looping below on a regular basis and make it look routine, you're pretty much confirming to everybody that you're really, really good. Oh, and 21 years old. Did I mention that?
Seriously, at the age of 21, Paul Pogba is a Ballon d'Or nominee. We didn't have that one a couple years ago, huh?
