Croatian captain and real Madrid midfield star Luka Modrić has been shortlisted by UEFA as one of the players of the year for 2017/2018.

Modrić is in lofty company with Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah the other two candidates in the three-man list.

According to UEFA the winner will be named – along with the UEFA Women's Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award winners – during the group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 30 August.

Along with picking up a silver medal with Croatia at this year’s World Cup in Russia Modrić was also named Player of the Tournament and won the Golden Ball. Interestingly there are no French players in the top three candidates, although the French striker Antoine Griezmann came in fourth position.

Three candidates - Photo UEFA 

The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48), along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

Lionel Messi came in fifth position, Kylian Mbappé, Kevin De Bruyne, Raphaël Varane, Eden Hazard and Sergio Ramos.