Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes Ballon d’Or shortlist

He may be experiencing one of the longest scoring droughts of his career, having failed to find the net in the last six Premier League games, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains a contender for this year’s Ballon d’Or.

The 35-year-old Swedish striker has been confirmed as one of the 30 players shortlisted for the 2016 award.

This year, the ballot for the prestigious award is being overseen by France Football magazine, as was the case before FIFA merged the trophy with its World Player of the Year award in 2010.

Ibrahimovic has been recognised for his 44-goal campaign with French champions Paris Saint Germain last season, before joining United on a free transfer this summer.

The former Ajax and AC Milan hitman has scored six goals for the Red Devils this season despite his current barren spell.

The full list of nominees is being released in intervals throughout the day, with five players being named at a time.

Zlatan was listed among the third batch of contenders and sits alongside the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Robert Lewandowski and Andres Iniesta in the contingent named thus far.

The 30-man shortlist will be whittled down to just three names before the end of the year, with the winner being crowned in January 2017. Former United star Cristiano Ronaldo is the current favourite to collect his fourth golden ball.

Earlier today, the winner of the 2016 Golden Boy -- the award given to the best young player on the Continent — was announced as Bayern Munich’s Renato Sanches.

Anthony Martial won last year’s vote, while Marcus Rashford was named runner-up to Sanches.