a part of the mbappé ballon d’or conversation that i wish was addressed more. (a rant)

i think there’s a part of the kylian mbappé ballon d’or conversation that gets completely overlooked. whenever mbappé says he believes he deserves the ballon d’or, there’s always someone who responds with “well, he was asked if he thinks he deserves it. what exactly was he supposed to say? that he doesn’t?”

i get that argument to an extent. i have no issue with a player backing himself. mbappé is an elite footballer and he should absolutely believe that he belongs in conversations about the best players in the world. but if his argument is essentially “i scored a lot of goals, therefore i deserve the ballon d’or”, then i think it’s completely fair to ask what those goals actually translated into. especially given the reason he joined real madrid in the first place. i fully agree with the idea that players should back themselves. but there’s a difference between backing yourself and talking about yourself with absolutely zero self-awareness or tact.

because let’s be real, he joined real madrid for a reason. he didn’t leave his previous club and go to madrid because his life’s mission was to make real madrid slightly better. he went there because he wanted to win the champions league, win every possible trophy, and put himself in the best position to win individual accolades like the ballon d’or. and what makes the conversation even more awkward is what has actually happened since then. the team he left has gone on to win trophies that, at the time, people were acting like they couldn’t possibly win without him. meanwhile, real madrid’s biggest thing to point to is his pichichi.

if you’re going to make the ballon d’or argument purely about your numbers, then at least acknowledge what those numbers actually translated into. because your goals ultimately led to very little in terms of team success. and in some cases, these goals arguably came at the expense of the team itself. be it the way the attack was structured, the way other players were used, the balance of the side, etc.

that’s the part i find so, so jarring. it’s not the confidence. it’s the complete lack of acknowledgement that individual numbers are supposed to mean something beyond the numbers themselves.

the ballon d’or isn’t the golden boot. it isn’t an award for “who scored the most goals” or “who was the top scorer at the x, y and z”. it’s supposed to recognise the player who had the biggest overall impact on football over the course of the year. and if your biggest argument is that you scored loads of goals while the team around you failed to achieve the things you were brought in to help them achieve, then my god, you’ve completely lost the plot.