After a thrilling football season across Europe, club competitions have come to an end with moments from the UEFA Champions League final being talked about the most. Attention of fans and football pundits have turned to who gets to be crowned the best player of the year.
Following the recent trends, whichever team wins the UEFA champions league, produces the Ballon D’or winners. The likes of Luka Modric, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo followed this trend. With this said, one question comes to mind, who is most likely to win the Ballon D’or this year?
English Premier League side Chelsea, were crowned UEFA Champions League Winners after defeating English Premier League Champions Manchester City 1-0 in Portugal. Looking at the club’s performance this season and the inputs made by each player, French international N’golo Kante surely is more deserving of this award than any other player.
The Frenchman had a good season, despite failing to win the EPL title and the Premier league this season, the Chelsea midfielder has been an asset to the club since he joined them from Leicester City in 2016 for a reported fee of £32 million. His immaculate performance and agility on the pitch, makes him a joy to watch.
So far so good, four managers have worked with N’golo Kante at Chelsea, all of which have done nothing but praise the defensive midfielder for his impressive display on the field. Saying Kante is one player every coach admires and would love to have in his team, wouldn’t be a far cry from the truth.
Kante’s achievements so far in his career, speaks volume of him. In the Champions League this season, his name was on every lips after his outstanding performance against Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid in both legs. His hunger, drive and consistency seems to be increasing with each game played.
In my honest opinion, should any player beat Kante to the Ballon D’or , it would be a big blow to fans and football lovers such as myself. N’Golo Kante has insisted his mind isn’t on the Ballon d’Or. The France international was voted man of the match in Chelsea’s UCL final triumph against Manchester City.
N’Golo Kante won the most man of the match awards from the knock out stages. He was named man of the match against Atletico Madrid second leg, he won two man of the match awards against Real Madrid in both legs, before he was finally crowned as the maestro against Manchester City.
What a force of nature this man is, his ability to anticipate danger and read the game is beyond average. The only thing Kante struggles with is shooting from outside the box, which is a minor complaint since his role in the team isn’t to score goals.
Kante has won everything available to be won. The French international has won the English Premier league twice with two different teams(Leicester City and Chelsea), the FA Cup, World Cup, Europa league and finally the Champions League.
If we go back memory lane, Luka Modric won the Ballon d’or without scoring so many goals or achieving as much as Kante has done this season alone. If he could have won it without doing so much, Kante is no exception. He should have a taste of the prize after his good performances. He is the most humble player to grace the world of football and he definitely should win it.
For now, the only player who could prevent Kante from winning the award is Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker has also been phenomenal this season after he set a new Bundesliga record for the most goals scored in a league season and also leading his side to another league title.
It’s also worthy to note that the striker could have won the award last year, but the award body decided not to host the event last year due to the pandemic and other reasons. However last year is in the past and so this year, we judge based on the achievements made in 2021.
