Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho made it abundantly clear who he thinks the Ballon d'Or should go to, as well as what kind of players should and should not win it.
Mourinho was talking to the media for the pre-Malaga press conference on Saturday, and he was asked about what the Ballon d'Or is, what it has become, and who it should be given to.
The Ballon d'Or, for many of the years this decade, has lost its value. People don't look at it the same way anymore. They talk about team awards over individual achievements, which is not how they should look at individual awards. That is exactly what Mourinho alludes to.
He said: “For me, the Ballon d’Or has to go to those players who, when they retire, we miss forever. I miss Maradona, Nazario, Messi, Zidane, Matthäus… You can’t give the Ballon d’Or just because they won the Champions League or the World Cup.
If you want to reward the Champions League, give the Ballon d’Or to Luis Enrique. For Spain, De La Fuente deserves it. Another thing is the best in the world; it doesn’t have to be from PSG or Spain. There are two, three, or four, and we know who they are. We know where they are — here.
We know who has made history individually this summer. The Ballon d’Or has politics, and if politics gets involved, I don’t like it so much. We already know my concept of the Ballon d’Or. We’re not going to find it in Spain or at PSG. There, it’s Luis Enrique or De La Fuente. The best player is someone else.”
The Ballon d'Or needs to take individual success into consideration more than it currently does
I'll let you guess the 'best player' he is talking about.
Mourinho is right. He is absolutely spot on. The best player on the winningest team is what Ballon d'Or has become.
In 2022, Karim Benzema was the out-and-out winner. Apart from him, there has not been a single player since the turn of the decade who has completely deserved their award based on individual greatness.
Mbappe has far and away been the best player in the world throughout this decade. He was also the player who made history by becoming the top scorer in World Cup history. He also scored more than 40 goals for his club last season. If we're talking about strictly individual greatness, and how it should be measured, there are not many players who remain in the discussion.
Why does it have to be someone from Spain or from PSG to win an award that is for individual greatness? Was Lionel Messi the winningest player when he won it in 2010? Or was Cristiano Ronaldo the winningest player when he won in 2013? No. They weren't. But everyone knew they were far and away the best players in the world in those years.
The same goes with Mbappe. Yes, team success matters and should matter. But it should never be the biggest criteria for an individual award.
Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior, Robert Lewandowski and so many others have been robbed of a Ballon d'Or despite having great years, just because some other player won an international tournament.
Even last season, if you don't want to think Mbappe was the best player in the world, it still should not be anyone from those PSG or Spain teams. It should be Harry Kane. He was incredible for both club and country, and just because he did not win much should not take him away from the conversation.
Mbappe is the kind of player fans will miss seeing live once he retires, which is exactly what Mourinho is alluding to. He is the kind of player who makes a difference week in, week out. He is the one who makes history every other week. He is the one who holds all the records in the biggest competition in sport. He is the heir, and that is exactly why Mourinho thinks he deserves to be called the best player in the world.
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