Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo says that Antoine Griezmann has the quality to follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and win the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
Real Madrid forward Ronaldo (2013, 2014) and Barcelona star Messi (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015) are the only two to have won the world's best male player award since the merger of the old Ballon d'Or and FIFA's own World Player of the Year award in 2010.
"Messi and Cristiano are two great players but I think Griezmann can be the successor to those Ballon d'Or winners," Cerezo told Spanish radio's Cadena Cope. "Griezmann is one of the best players in the world."
Griezmann, 25, was shortlisted for UEFA's Best Player in Europe award, along with eventual winner Ronaldo and his Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale, after an impressive 2015-16 campaign when he scored 32 goals in 54 appearances to help Atletico finish third in La Liga and reach the final of the Champions League.
He also scored six goals and set up two more in six starts at Euro 2016 as hosts France lost the final to Portugal.
The forward opened his goal scoring account this season in Saturday's 4-0 triumph at Celta Vigo when he scored twice and bagged an assist as Atletico claimed their first win of the campaign.
The Rojiblancos spent a reported €80 million in this summer's transfer market to acquire five players, including Argentinian midfielder Nicolas Gaitan from Benfica and French striker Kevin Gameiro from Sevilla.
"We have a great team," Cerezo said. "It's one of the best rosters Atletico has had in its history. The league has only just started and we are fighting for everything."
Atletico begin their Champions League group stage campaign on Tuesday at PSV Eindhoven and will also take on Bayern Munich and Rostov later in Group D. Atletico lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final last season, their second final defeat to Real in three years, but Cerezo is keen to break the club's duck.
"To have made it to two finals in three years is very important," he said. "It was close and the only thing is that we could have had two Champions League titles but we don't have any. Instead Real has 11. We have to continue to fight with the same hunger and enthusiasm in order to win our first Champions League."