Germany stormed to World Cup success this summer and Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Mario Gotze have been nominated for the award from that victorious 23-man squad.

However, Ronaldo remains the bookmakers' favourite after a stellar 12 months in which he fired Real Madrid to La Decima and continued his goalscoring heroics into the 2014-15 season.

Ronaldo's World Cup group stage exit with Portugal may count against him if Platini's comments are echoed by voters for the Ballon d'Or award - a notion which Arbeloa cannot comprehend and he suggested anyone who thinks otherwise is clueless.