With the 2024 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony looming, an AI supercomputer has picked Real Madrid new boy Kylian Mbappe as the eventual winner, despite the likes of Rodri and Los Blancos' duo Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham being viewed as the front-runners.

The Frenchman, 25, completed his inevitable switch to Los Blancos after years of speculation this summer and has netted two strikes in his four opening outings – but his goalscoring record for his ex-employers, Paris Saint-Germain, is not to be sniffed at.

For reference, the supercomputer works by combining the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini and Bing AI to predict which player will win the Ballon d’Or on October 28 on the back of the announcement of the 30 nominees, which included the likes of Phil Foden, Harry Kane and William Saliba.

Mbappe Tipped to Win Ballon D’Or by Supercomputer

Erling Haaland and Vinicius to finish in 2nd and 3rd respectively

As alluded to, Mbappe is not the leading candidate for this year’s Ballon d’Or and in GIVEMESPORT’s Power Rankings, there are a quartet of players ahead of the former Monaco prospect – including two of his new teammates.

According to SportsCasting, who asked their AI Supercomputer to predict who will win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, Paris-born Mbappe - who is recognised as one of the best strikers in the world - will be walking on stage to pick up the accolade at the ceremony next month, usurping Bellingham and Vinicius Jr.

The forward, who has scored 286 goals in 373 outings throughout his senior career, was entirely pivotal to PSG’s domestic success before his move to Spain’s top tier and is bound to add a plethora of silverware to his CV at his current La Liga employers.

The supercomputer also insisted that Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who has broken countless records since arriving in the Premier League, will come second behind the Frenchman, while Vinicius Jr has been calculated to finish third in the rankings after impressing both domestically and on the international stage.

Elsewhere, Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer have backed Manchester City midfielder Rodri to pick up the most prestigious award in world football at the end of next month.

A Ballon d’Or Ceremony Without Messi or Ronaldo

What could play into the hands of Mbappe – and the other stars up for the showpiece award – is that neither Lionel Messi of Inter Miami nor his generational rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, are among the nominees for the first time across a two-decade period.

In fact, it is the first time since 2003 that the aforementioned duo of footballing superstars have not been up for the award, one year after the diminutive Argentine extended his record to eight Ballon d’Or awards in total.

Messi, formerly of Barcelona and PSG, has become a serial winner of the sought-after gong in recent years, but some fans may deduce that his exploits in America and at the Copa America have been overlooked because they fall outside of Europe.