Lamine Yamal

Hes been poor vs expectations and talent. Maybe thats because hes been absolutely flogged for a player of his age. Perhaps needs a bit of a break.
 
antk said:
He missed 17 games for injury this season.

Me too. The Ballon d'Or 2026 covers Aug 25 to July 26. The start of the 26/27 season doesn't (or shouldn't, depending on when people cast their votes) matter.
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Hence why I wrote "fit enough to play". Of course he was injured every now an then, but it also felt like he often got rushed back from injury to play again.
 
Zehner said:
Mbappe was brillant at the WC but has there ever been a titleless Ballon D'Or winner? I don't like the award's focus on team trophies either but think it's correct that they are at least a factor and that a certain level of continuity should be maintained. Wouldn't rule out the possibility of a Ballon D'Or despite not winning any title at all completely but the player in question would have to be lightyears ahead of the competition and that's not been the case for me.
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I get what the award has been based off but this is just my personal take. I’d give it to the best performer across competitions giving weightage to them based on importance (WC top). That’s what any award for “best player” should be imo.
 
Zehner said:
I don't really see how they have stronger arguments going for them than Yamal. Mbappe won no titles at all, Olise and Kane only domestic ones and although they are obviously outstanding players, I don't think they were good enough to justify a Ballon D'Or win solely based on their individual performances. The last players to do so were heads and shoulders above their peers.
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Argument in favor of Kane and Olise: In club football, all three of them won the league title, with as good if not better performances than Lamine Yamal. Both Olise and Kane were better than him in UCL but all ended without the trophy. Both of them were significantly better than Lamine Yamal in the World Cup, just cause Lamine Yamal won the trophy while not being even a top 5 player on his team shouldn’t change that.

The best argument for Mbappe is that he has been the best player in the world for the last 12 months. But no trophies at all will hurt his case.

If we go purely by World Cup (which has happened many times, like Modric 2018, Mess 2022, Cannavaro 2006), it should undoubtedly be Rodri. If we go by best player and do not care about the trophies (say Messi 2012), it probably should be Mbappe. If we go with a combination of performances and trophies, then it is open between Olise, Kane, Dembele and Lamine Yamal.

Personally, I would not give it to Olise and Dembele cause they are not the best/main player for France (Mbappe is). I wouldn’t give it to Kane for the simple reason that Olise outperformed him in Bundesliga and Bellingham in the World Cup. And I wouldn’t give it to Lamine Yamal cause he didn’t do anything of note in the World Cup, despite winning it.

Which by elimination, leaves it Rodri vs Mbappe.

Nevertheless, it is going to be interesting considering how open it might be. Most of the time, there is a consensus choice, while now it seems that 5+ players have a good claim.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I get what the award has been based off but this is just my personal take. I’d give it to the best performer across competitions giving weightage to them based on importance (WC top). That’s what any award for “best player” should be imo.
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Champions league and Premier league are a higher standard than the world cup though albeit the world cup is the biggest award in a players career.

To be honest player awards are a load of crap, it's subjective and it's been politically motivated at times
 
It's still Messi. Unbelievable world cup and probably pretty good in the league too.
 
Zehner said:
I don't really see how they have stronger arguments going for them than Yamal. Mbappe won no titles at all, Olise and Kane only domestic ones and although they are obviously outstanding players, I don't think they were good enough to justify a Ballon D'Or win solely based on their individual performances. The last players to do so were heads and shoulders above their peers.
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Fabien Ruiz should get it ahead of Yamal if we are basing it on trophies won this past season and the WC win.
 
Steve Bruce said:
Champions league and Premier league are a higher standard than the world cup though albeit the world cup is the biggest award in a players career.

To be honest player awards are a load of crap, it's subjective and it's been politically motivated at times
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WC is the biggest competition without doubt. The standard is lower but it can be a bigger challenge unless you play for Spain / France.
Mourinhonista said:
It's still Messi. Unbelievable world cup and probably pretty good in the league too.
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Nah. Incredible WC but the league matters and the MLS.
 
Revan said:
If we go purely by World Cup (which has happened many times, like Modric 2018, Mess 2022, Cannavaro 2006), it should undoubtedly be Rodri. If we go by best player and do not care about the trophies (say Messi 2012), it probably should be Mbappe. If we go with a combination of performances and trophies, then it is open between Olise, Kane, Dembele and Lamine Yamal.
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Modric was also a key player in the Real Madrid team that won their third CL in a row that season, so it certainly wasn’t just based on his performances for Croatia in the world cup.

Its a bit of a tricky one this year, would’ve been a straight forward pick had England, Argentina or France won it.
I suppose it will be between Yamal and Rodri.
Yamal had the better season at his club, Rodri had the better world cup and was absolutely consistent throughout the competition and Spain’s most important player.


Mourinhonista said:
It's still Messi. Unbelievable world cup and probably pretty good in the league too.
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I don’t see how it can be Messi, his performances in the MLS shouldn’t and probably won’t hold any weight here.
Had Argentina won it it probably would’ve been Messi but it’s quite a reactionary award.
 
Fabien Ruiz is like when posters thought Jorginho should have won it. Being a cog in a trophy winning team doesn't mean you're the best player in the world.
 
Probably the most open ballon dor since the early 2000s. Mbappe, Olise, Dembele, Kane, Yamal, Rodri, Messi are the candidates imo and all of them have major holes in their respective arguments.

Mbappe is the best player if we look at a combination of the WC and Club football, but he has won no trophies.

Messi and Rodri if we purely look at the world cup, but Rodri had an average club season and Messi is in MLS

Olise, Dembele, Kane had great club seasons but they were not the most outstanding players in the world cup

Yamal won the WC and club titles, and while he had a pretty good club season, he did not have an outstanding WC

It is pretty open. I know its not for the calender year, but the first 2 months of the new season will sway votes, so whoever had the starts the season witha bang should get it.

Or maybe it will be an unexprcted winner in cubarsi. WC winner and la liga winner, and had huge contributions to both. Best young player in the world cup, in the team of the tournament and likely the best centre defender in the world cup too. But he is a defender so it is very unlikely
 
dinostar77 said:
Fabien Ruiz should get it ahead of Yamal if we are basing it on trophies won this past season and the WC win.
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Fabien Ruiz getting it would have been as weird as someone like Pedro getting it in the past. It just doesn't make sense whatsoever.

Sure, he won those trophies with PSG, but was he even a top 5 player for them? Dembele and Vitinha are PSG's best players, followed by Kvara. Then you have a group of players like Neves, Fabian Ruiz, Hakimi, Marquinhos and Mendes. Being generous you can put Fabian Ruiz as 4th best PSG player, but you can also easily put him as 7th or so.

And for Spain, Rodri was the undisputed best player. Ruiz was good, but was he even better than Cucurella, Cubarsi, Olmo for example?

Lay said:
Fabien Ruiz is like when posters thought Jorginho should have won it. Being a cog in a trophy winning team doesn't mean you're the best player in the world.
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It is far worse than that IMO. Jorginho was the best player of Italy (winning Euros) and Chelsea's best midfielder (winning UCL). Ruiz is probably in the second half of best starting XI for both PSG and Spain. IMO, remove Jorginho that season and Chelsea and Italy win nothing. Remove Fabien Ruiz this season, and PSG and Spain win the same trophies they won.
 
Mourinhonista said:
It's still Messi. Unbelievable world cup and probably pretty good in the league too.
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Of course it is not. He was a total liability in the final match. For all the shit Ronaldo deservedly got, Messi on the final was even worse.

And who cares about MLS?

If he had won the World Cup, you can make an argument purely based on it (but by the same logic, why Rodri shouldn't get it), but without it, he won't even end in top 5 and probably not even in top 10.

I think we need a Ballon d'Or thread.
 
Swoobs said:
Probably the most open ballon dor since the early 2000s. Mbappe, Olise, Dembele, Kane, Yamal, Rodri, Messi are the candidates imo and all of them have major holes in their respective arguments.

Mbappe is the best player if we look at a combination of the WC and Club football, but he has won no trophies.

Messi and Rodri if we purely look at the world cup, but Rodri had an average club season and Messi is in MLS

Olise, Dembele, Kane had great club seasons but they were not the most outstanding players in the world cup

Yamal won the WC and club titles, and while he had a pretty good club season, he did not have an outstanding WC

It is pretty open. I know its not for the calender year, but the first 2 months of the new season will sway votes, so whoever had the starts the season witha bang should get it.

Or maybe it will be an unexprcted winner in cubarsi. WC winner and la liga winner, and had huge contributions to both. Best young player in the world cup, in the team of the tournament and likely the best centre defender in the world cup too. But he is a defender so it is very unlikely
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Agree with this. Psg and Spain have been the best teams, but with excellent winning systems, rather than a stand out player. Rodri in world cup stood out most, especially latter in the competition, but spent half the year looking a shadow of himself. Lamal, kane, messi, mbappe, are all great players, but not effected their respective clubs and nations achievements beyond the minimum of expectations, like winning the league or getting to semi final of a world cup. Maybe Messi, but like said, its mls.
 
Ruiz missed most of PSG's CL campaign (and season) and is not even amongst the 3 best performers for his country. He was actually not even guaranteed to start most games.

Ludicrous to include him in any Ballon d'Or talks or to compare him with Jorginho's 2021 season.
 
Satnev scholsey said:
While France Football do give the award, the votes from the press decide who wins it; in every world cup year especially if there has been no standout candidate during the previous season, the winner is the outstanding player from the winning team.

Rodri is the favourite for me. It doesn't matter whether he won it previously.

Yamal will finish on the podium due to his status, winning the world cup despite being mediocre individually and a good season with Bsrcelona.

Messi may also finish on the podium due to a combination of an individually outstanding tournament (player of the tournament for me) and his status in the game.

Mbappe may also finish on the podium due to all the goals he scored with both Madrid and France.
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So for you:
1. Messi was the best player of the WC
2. Rodri should win Ballon d’Or

Why not Messi then? His club season at MLS was probably better than Rodri’s even considering the enormous gap between the leagues.
 
harms said:
So for you:
1. Messi was the best player of the WC
2. Rodri should win Ballon d’Or

Why not Messi then? His club season at MLS was probably better than Rodri’s even considering the enormous gap between the leagues.
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Any Messi inclusion in this year's Ballon d’Or talk would would first require confirmation that he complied with the World Cup drug-testing process. His MLS and WC performances don't add up.
 
dinostar77 said:
I thought balon dor was only for players playing in European competitions?
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It's not.

A few decades ago it was only for European players however.

EDIT: Looked into it more and it had to be European leagues up until 2006!
 
dinostar77 said:
Yes, back in the 80s it was European players only.

Were the rules changed more recently because Messi joined mls?
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Answered above with an edit but regardless you've been in the deep end of conspiracy theories the last few days

Please come back to regular society
 
harms said:
So for you:
1. Messi was the best player of the WC
2. Rodri should win Ballon d’Or

Why not Messi then? His club season at MLS was probably better than Rodri’s even considering the enormous gap between the leagues.
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If Argentina won the final, Messi would be the favourite BUT even then it would have created an uproar because of the MLS factor. The enormous gap cannot be ignored.
 
I think to reach Messi/Ronaldo levels you have to have a deranged lunatic level mentality. Yamal seems too much of a normal balanced individual.
 
mctrials23 said:
Hes been poor vs expectations and talent. Maybe thats because hes been absolutely flogged for a player of his age. Perhaps needs a bit of a break.
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I think them throwing kids into men's game way too young is at least big part of the problem, yes
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I’d give it to Mbappe, Kane or Olise at this stage. The latter faded as the WC went on so if Mbappe has a great start to the season then him.
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One of the three main criteria for ballon d'or is collective performances and team achievements that's Mbappe out of the picture already.
Olise shouldn't even be top 5 when Yamal,Rodri,Kane,Dembele,Kvara,Mbappe and Haaland exist.
 
No chance Kane should win it given the league he’s in and team he plays for. Unless Bayern win the Champions League or narrowly lose in the final those boys shouldn’t be anywhere near it.
 
Satnev scholsey said:
While France Football do give the award, the votes from the press decide who wins it; in every world cup year especially if there has been no standout candidate during the previous season, the winner is the outstanding player from the winning team.

Rodri is the favourite for me. It doesn't matter whether he won it previously.

Yamal will finish on the podium due to his status, winning the world cup despite being mediocre individually and a good season with Bsrcelona.

Messi may also finish on the podium due to a combination of an individually outstanding tournament (player of the tournament for me) and his status in the game.

Mbappe may also finish on the podium due to all the goals he scored with both Madrid and France.
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It does matter, actually. He might be the favourite for you, but he's not the actual betting favourite, and that should tell you something.
 
Zehner said:
Mbappe was brillant at the WC but has there ever been a titleless Ballon D'Or winner? I don't like the award's focus on team trophies either but think it's correct that they are at least a factor and that a certain level of continuity should be maintained. Wouldn't rule out the possibility of a Ballon D'Or despite not winning any title at all completely but the player in question would have to be lightyears ahead of the competition and that's not been the case for me.

The player you didn't mention is Rodri. Best player of the WC winner but an injury-riddled club season, maybe a bit comparable to Ronaldo in 2002. And then there are also the PSG players. Only the third time a UCL title was defended. Dembele also has a top 4 finish, 6 goals and 4 assists to show for at the WC. Vitinha had a forgettable WC but was absolutely outstanding for his club in the UCL. Plus, there's Messi whose WC performance at 39 years of age is one for the history books, too.
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Ronaldo won it in 2013 without winning a major team trophy, IIRC. Same year that Ribery won the treble with Bayern, hence controversy.
 
Dan said:
How did Olise outperform Kane?
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He was Bundesliga player of the year, I think the general consensus was that he played better for Bayern (I do not watch Bundesliga every week). Honestly, even here, people were claiming that Olise has been the best player in the world for the last season.
 
BalanceUnAutreJoint said:
One of the three main criteria for ballon d'or is collective performances and team achievements that's Mbappe out of the picture already.
Olise shouldn't even be top 5 when Yamal,Rodri,Kane,Dembele,Kvara,Mbappe and Haaland exist.
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That’s fine. I was talking about who I’d give it to. “Collective performances and team achievements” have much less to do the individual than their own performance levels.

Kvara didn’t do that much bar a few headline CL displays did he?
 
Alan Partridge said:
I think to reach Messi/Ronaldo levels you have to have a deranged lunatic level mentality. Yamal seems too much of a normal balanced individual.
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interms of talent alone, he easily clears Cristiano. Now to have that career is something time will tell.
 
Why do people suggest Ruiz or Rodri? One has 13 starts in the league and few minutes in the CL whereas the other played slightly more minutes in the league and even fewer than Ruiz' CL minutes. It's just not going to happen, of course. They shouldn't be anywhere near it.
 
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