Riyad Mahrez was probably the best player in English football last season, so it was no surprise to see his name included on the Ballon d'Or shortlist.
Having won the PFA Player of the Year as well the Premier League title with Leicester, the 25-year-old has been nominated alongside the likes of Premier League stars Sergio Aguero, Hugo Lloris and Paul Pogba. Mahrez is also joined on the illustrious listby team-mate Jamie Vardy.
Huge honor to be nominated in top 30 ! #TeamDZ pic.twitter.com/yiYCbcNTfQ
Mahrez has been rightly nominated as one of the world's best players over the past year, and while it's widely expected the award will go to Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, or perhaps Luis Suarez, the Algerian is just honoured to be have been acknowledged, as evidenced in his tweet above.
The nomination completes a remarkable rise to notoriety for Mahrez, who was playing for Le Havre in France's Ligue 2 as recently as 2014. Signing for Leicester in that year, Mahrez helped the Foxes gain promotion to the Premier League, and also helped the club avoid relegation in the following season.
He scored 17 league goals during the 2015-16 season as Leicester won an unexpected Premier League title, and while this season hasn't quite gone as spectacularly for Mahrez and Leicester, he's rightly been named alongside the likes of Messi and Ronaldo as one of the best players in the world.