We’re not saying Harry Kane should win the Ballon d’Or. We’re an English-based media outlet and therefore don’t care because us REAL football people know that individual awards have no place in the game and their mere existence propagates the poisonous, infamously dangerous notion that anyone – ANYONE – can be bigger than the team.
That said, we would quite like Lamine Yamal or Kylian Mbappe not to win it, mainly because they do care. Boy, do they care.
Asked who he thinks the favourites are for the Ballon d’Or, Mbappe said: “That’s not my concern, because I don’t think about what I need to do to win it.
“What’s most important to me is bringing the Ballon d’Or back to Real Madrid. This is the biggest club in the world.
“The award belongs back at the Bernabeu, back with the Real Madrid fans, back with these people who deserve that excitement more than anyone in the world.”
READ: Real Madrid’s shameless Kylian Mbappe Ballon d’Or push is laughable
See if you can spot the subtle difference in Kane’s perspective on winning the greatest individual prize in football.
“I’ve never liked to talk about myself too much,” Kane told Marca. “The only thing I would say is that last season was incredible, on a personal level and as a team. It was, by far, the best season of my life.
“It’s true that to finish on 73 goals, the second-highest tally in history, speaks for itself. I’m extremely proud of that. I can only thank my teammates and everyone who has helped me to make that possible.
“But the Ballon d’Or is not in my hands. It depends on the people that vote. From my point of view, last season is in the past. I’m now focused on this one and I’m eager to see what else I can achieve.”
While Gen Z are shouting “play the game, Harry!” at the top of their lungs, he’s talking about scoring another gazillion goals for Bayern Munich.
It’s the laissez-faire attitude that makes him such an attractive winner. Here’s hoping he accepts the award via Zoom because he can’t miss bath and bedtime while Yamal and Mbappe slump in their seats, stewing in their finery.
Which brings us to another key reason to vote for Kane this year: Yamal campaigning against him.
Before we get to his reasoning for “a player who scored 80 goals” not being a deserved winner, here’s a reminder of the three Ballon d’Or criteria, of which Yamal evidently believes No.2 to be trivial and No.3 – he will hope after these quotes – to be entirely irrelevant.
1) Individual performances, decisive and impressive character;
2) Team performances and achievements;
3) Class and fair play.
“That award is being viewed differently now,” Yamal told Movistar Plus.
“When [Lionel] Messi and Cristiano [Ronaldo] were around, everyone knew they were the two best in the world, so the award was shared between the two players.
“The problem now is that people are focusing on things that have nothing to do with the Ballon d’Or. For example, when they say a PSG player has to win it because they’ve won the Champions League.
“When you win the Champions League, PSG are awarded the Champions League trophy for being the best team, and that’s the prize that belongs to PSG.
“It’s a different matter altogether if the world’s best player happens to be at PSG. In that case, I believe the award should go to the world’s best player, full stop. Not to a player who’s scored 80 goals, because when you score 80 goals, you’re given the top scorer award for the season.
“These are very different things that people aren’t understanding. The best player in the world is the one who, as a pundit, makes you watch the match and enjoy it; you see him, and he’s a player who stands out from the rest.
“When the focus returns to that – and the best player in the world is recognised as the best, not the one who scores the most goals or has won the most titles – then the award will regain the value it deserves.”
He added: “Mbappé plays for Real Madrid and I play for Barça, so we have a direct rivalry… and I’ve beaten him in terms of trophies.
“I think there could be Mbappé and me as best player in the world and this year, I believe I deserve it.”
The point is, Lamine, that the Ballon d’Or is indeed awarded to the world’s best footballer, but those who decided upon the criteria believed team performance, class and fair play to be key metrics in what makes the world’s best footballer the world’s best footballer.
Messi and Ronaldo have won it eight and five times respectively a) because they won a helluva lot of trophies, but also b) because they were so much better than anyone else individually that it rendered metrics 2 and 3 inconsequential. And sorry mate, you’re not there yet.
It’s a toss up this year. And again, while we don’t really care if Kane wins it, if that means Mbappe and especially Yamal don’t, after this classless appeal against the England captain, then we’ll start canvassing for votes.
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