Established in 1956, the Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award a football player can receive. But alongside being revered, the award is also viewed as one of the most controversial prizes in the industry. This video essay breaks down the politics of the Ballon d'Or, covering aspects from the trends of winners and contenders, to how Ballon d'or voting works and the psychology of its voters.
SUBSCRIBE: / @watchalexander
TWITTER: / alexanderxg
Sources: pastebin.com/sVN1TZLc
"Messi, Ronaldo, and the Politics of Celebrity Elections" served as the principal reference for this video essay.
0:00 Introduction
0:50 The History and Iterations of Ballon d'Or
3:05 Why Football Players Desire The Ballon d'Or
5:55 The Voting Process
7:25 Ballon d'Or Winning/Runner-up Trends
11:10 The Bias of Ballon d'Or
15:05 Conclusion
Business Email: contact@alexander.watch
Tags: #ballondor #messi #ronaldo
I've never understood the need to have awards that are voted for in sport. Surely the whole point of football is that it's decided on the pitch?
someone still has to select a winner. The question is who?
Teams win on pitch, individuals win awards.
If there is no room for subjectivity there is no beauty.
i aggree with you
And there's a catch that rules and criteria changes with time to suit the winner.
My grandpa used to say Lev Yashin was the greatest goalkeeper who ever lived and even "they" recognized it ("they" being the corrupt and decadent west😅). For decades he'd sit watch a match and in the the end say "ah, we just don't have a man like Yashin anymore, what can the team do when they don't have a good goalkeeper?" It's kind if nuts that he was the only goalkeeper ever to be awarded.
There are so few clips of his gameplay, and it's not even confirmed that they're his best saves or his best moments, and yet we still get amazed how good his play were, how immovable he was. Regardless of how advanced football was, you can't change how good the individual shots players hit were, so to discredit Yashin is to discredit all goalkeeping as a whole, and to think he also revolutionized and pioneered the sweeper keeper style so he undoubtedly would be incredible still in the modern era and would only be regarded better because of how well we can track highlights and moments now, this is why I still believe The Black Spider to be the best goalkeeper to ever live. He is even beyond Gianluigi Buffon, which isn't that far back either as he could also stop a meteor from hitting Earth if he wanted to.
Both of you are wrongz lev yashin had the narrative and that's what it takes to win the ballondor even to be inducted, 2018 modric just won it due to participation dude could even carry a team in his own, Messi didn't deserve the ballondor in 2023, 2013 Ronaldo getting it didn't make sense, 2021 Messi should have given it to lewandowski, damn ballondor is righed
@@kevinjersey3136 Lewa didn't deserve it in 2022. He wasn't even the best player in the Bundesliga and that's the only trophy he won that season while Messi won Coper American and Coper-delay. In which he was the best player in both. So Messi's performance was better when you include the fact that he had more goal contributions( goals and assists) than Lewa
Yeah that's why shit goal keeper never gets golden gloves
Your grandad knew ball. Respect
I'm witnessing a great channel in the making and I'm glad to be a part of it. Love your videos ALEXANDER never stop!
Thank you so much! 😁🙏🏽
I agree!
@DanielBengtsson Thank you Daniel! 🙏🏽
True that!
Hands down some of the highest quality content I have seen on the yt!
Thank you! 😁 Worked extra hard on this one so it means a lot!
Your production quality is outrageous for less the 20k. You’ve just earned a new subscriber.
Thank you man! 😁
I was just viewing some random stuff on youtube, than the algorithm clicked and understood that we really need to show a channel that's high on content and not biased at all . I think I would never regret subscribing to you at all.
Wow, what a compliment 😭 thank you! 🙏🏽
You have amazing voice, so nice to listen to you :D As for Ballondor Messi is king
the best part about this channel, it focuses on wide range of topics. keep going, looking forward to watch your next videos and hope the subjects would be diversified not only just football or fashion.
Found your channel today and subscribed. I am not disappointed.
This means so much, thank you! 🙏🏽
Man, I would honestly say that I was on your channel before 1M You have crazy potential
Thank you so much man I appreciate this. 🙏🏽🙏🏽
If Ballond'or was given purely based on individual perfomance, messi would have 10 of them
That's a lie. He wouldn't . What are you on about ?
@@seige8621 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. My bad it is 9. But you got my point
He will ...in the last 15 years..he has like 10 years where he leads in g/a@@seige8621
@@seige8621yes he would have 10 of them , He do almost every work of A MidFilder and Striker , Messi can be Top Goalscorer in the World at the same time + Top Assister in the world + at the same time with most MOTM + at the same time with most dribbles + at the same time with Most Important chances or passes created in one single season or Year
Might be 1 month later but definitely this video is really good
Thank you 🙏🏽
A clear and concise explanation of an interesting topic. Keep producing such high quality content and your channel will make it big in no time!
Thank you so much! 😁
I will watch and learn from anything you post regardless if it’s within my interests. Thank you for being so thorough. Educational eye candy 😂
Thank you so much! 😁😊
I have watched all three of your videos, very impressive, we are here to watch you grow! thank you!
Thank you 🙏🏽😁 can’t wait to put out the next one!
Another amazing video you’re becoming my favourite video essayist on youtube 😫 all your videos ooze class and the editing is excellent as usual
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊
Another dopamine hit from my bro Alexander keep it coming.
Aha glad I could provide! 😁 Thank you!
The quality of the content is top notch! Appreciate your hard work 🐐
Thank you! 🙏🏽😁
You finna blow brother love ❤
🙏🏽🙏🏽
This is such a good channel. Keep it up bro!
Thank you Jacob! 🙏🏽
So proud of you and the amazing content you are curating, keep up the great work im rooting for you x
Thank you. 🤍
First time to come around to this channel and what can I say.. simply brilliant! Everything said is spot on, high quality content ✌🏻
Thank you! 😊 More content coming soon!
I literally have bar in my song where I say “ The ball rigged like Ball D Or”
Quality Content
Thank you! 🙏🏽
I love your videos man
Thank you! 😊🙏🏽
Amazing production values. Congrats. Great video.
Thank you! 😁🙏🏽
beautiful editing and amazing vid, you 100% deserve more subs
Thank you! 😁
recently discovered this channel from the rolex video highly underrated!!!! big UPPS
Thank you! 🙏🏽
,,We will win so much they will get tired of us winning,,
Great job on the video. I'm expecting more. Subscribed!!
Thank you! 😄
This channel will blow up in a few months. The quality of the videos is superb and the analysis is always objective. Kudos 👌🏻
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽🤞🏽
the fact Mbappé hasn’t won yet is enough for me to not respect it anymore. This is how they done Henry dirty.
i have a feeling a channel will grow alot and i'm all for it
Fingers crossed 😁 thank you!
This politics has made it impossible for players like Ribbery and lampard from winning it
I’m excited for the Ballon d’Or moving forward though! Watching Messi and Ronaldo dominate was amazing, but to see new, younger faces be contenders is going to be really fun. 🔥
It has also made it impossible for players like lewandoski, van dijk and halland to win
True. Lampard was easily the best in the world in 2005. Ronaldinho actually deserved in 2006 more than 2005.
Also Zlatan, Lewa, Van Djik
@@sagarranjan4585😂😂😂
Stumbled upon your channel, and you have one of the highest quality videos in this platform. & you're independent makes it more impressive!
Thank you so much! This means a lot. 😁🙏🏽 New video is coming very soon, so I hope you’ll enjoy that one too!
Bro what a quality 😮 great video 😊❤
Thank you! 😄🙏🏽
Excellent video mate! I was recently reading on Twitter that Roberto Martinez did not know or understand enterily the rules/criteria for the recent The Best award. That could also be a crucial factor... again, great video and editing
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽 And wow, not knowing the rules is crazy, but also shows how arbitrary some of these votes can be!
@watchalexander absolutely! Again great vid keep them up
Bro, I ain't gonna lie, you're in another category compared to other KZheadrs , keep it up !!!!!!!!!
Thank you man, comments like this are really appreciated! 🙏🏽
11:31 and Julian Alvarez
Ronald cried because he knew Ribery deserved that award in 2013-2014.
Great editorial. Frankly the subs does not reflect the quality of your production. This makes me believe that most channels have bots as subs. 🇬🇭
Thank you! 🙏🏽 I’m a relatively new channel but hopefully I’ll begin to see more growth as I put out more content. 😁
Sure! We here in Ghana will help with the growth.
This is top level journalism documentary
What a compliment, thank you! 🙏🏽😁
Man the number of times messi appeared in this video😮
Top tier content!
Thank you! 😁🙏🏽
High Quality channel. Subscribed.
Thank you! 🙏🏽😁
Yes, I like this channels refreshing perspective
Thank you! 😊
Spectacular content
Thank you! 🙏🏽
Keep it up man‼️‼️
Thank you! 🙏🏽😁
FIFA Boy Messi
Henry not winning it and not even making it in their team of the year due to failure in the euros was certainly political. France Football blackballed him, absolutely no way Shevchenko was better in that year.
3 peat bangers as your first videos is insane
This Chanel is gold not biased
Appreciate your comment! 😊🙏🏽
Great video 👍. What’s that clicking sound effect used when the text pops up?
Original and quality content. 🙌
Thank you! 🙏🏽😁
It isn't really that complicated. Scoring the most goals in a season is obviously a big achievement, however Messi winning the world cup was the biggest achievement during the 2022-23 season. The journalists who voted also saw it that way. The final result wasn't even close, he won by over a 100 points
Great video
Thank you! 🙏🏽
post more 🙏
Ballon d'or is a vote based award just like the NBA Mvp in basketball, they will be times when there's a clear winner and there's times where the race is tight and either of the player could win it. So who ever will win it they are some people who will say it's not true, so of cos since Messi won it so many times have many of those haters. But elite players vote, coaches vote, media vote and fans vote, the magnitude of the players counts his name and respect people have for him, that's what made Messi win the fifa the best award few months ago. Messi is the greatest of all time
Yup I'm ready for your new video
What did you think?
Personally I would zone out a bit from video whenever there's clip that slightly not related to the topic, like some movie scenes. I would suggest more b roll of topic related clips, but I know its kinda hard to pull that much of it. Other than that, the narration, the content are informative! Keep it up! @@watchalexander
@@dannydanny2288 Thank you for the feedback, noted! 😁
great video!
Thank you! 🙏🏽😁
1. An individual award, especially one as glamorised as the Ballon d'Or, for a team sport, is just dumb. 2. If the award must exist, shouldn't it be voted for by those with the most knowledge of the sport, i.e. the coaches? But that would mean the coaches would have to watch/analyse all the professional players worldwide for the entire season, which is impossible. Hence, it's a dumb award.
Average penaldo fan
Facts
@@phihlellotheone8979 what is penaldo?
@@thesmallhulkRonaldo
@@phihlellotheone8979average brainless barca fan
13:36 that moment between Prince William and Prince George always makes me laugh. Why did he jump so high lmao
what about the super ballon d'or?
Ronaldo numero uno
Haaland is the biggest example of goalscorer Bias. Aside from his goals, he doesn't do much in the field, I am baffled how people elevates him for scoring that many goals in a club that generates a lot of opportunities, while he has never been better than Mbappe.
I personally think KDB deserved it
@@mohammedalamoudi2032 agree, KDB had a bigger impact then Haaland
People will never understand it. I get sick and mad when i hear that Haaland is the best player in the world. I can't even get how people can be so blind and biased to the point of confusing best player and top goalscorer For me, there's always a clear difference between the two things even if at times some players get to embody the two things which obviously isn't the case of Erling Haaland.
@@AbedCruz he legit won it for more or less the same reason as ronaldo most of his st years. If a same as most strikers that have won. If you dont want players that are legit told to stay up the field to win the award just say so
He does his job better than any other player on the planet. You aesthetic merchants are everything that’s wrong with football fans
why the heck this channel only has 15K+ subscribers? escapes me...
Aha, I just started it this month, but the support + growth I’ve already received has been amazing. Thank you! 🙏🏽
When Messi won it over Lewy it was well deserved. Barcelona was already bad and Lio was receiving standing ovations by opposing crowds.
Okay. I guess we have a new factor to count for Ballon dor. Number of standing ovations by opposing team 😂 I swear Messi fans are ridiculous.
Also when Messi played with PSG and only scored 6 goals in a season they started talking about G/A and number of posts hit by Messi. 2 things that no one cared about in football before Messi fans started talking about them due to an embarrassing season.
@@joeymontanaacriteria change to benefit messi
@@mauricewilliams3478 for real 😂
Interesting
Best example of football politics is recent Fifa the best award which was won by messi but the thing is the voting period started after the world cup.
Always remember that Messi and Fifa are family
Womp Womp
Typical Penaldo fanboi...Who is salty about their useless idol.... Remember Fifa didn’t stop him from performing in Fifa tournament like Wc... It's him who Bottled it...
Great explainer on the history of the ballon d’or and the politics/celebrity around it. Apart from the factors mentioned (position, playing in spain, club’s history) that make a player more likely to win one, it’s also interesting that statistically, even post inclusion of non european players, there aren’t a lot of nonwhite players who’ve won it despite maybe a significant amount of football enjoyers who would agree that they should have (thierry henry comes to mind). Always wondered if there is also a racial bias (its france after all…) or if this just speaks to the dominance of messi-ronaldo during those times. Still excited to see what the future of football holds with new superstars and youngsters on the rise and how the ballon d’or changes (or not 🤷) along with it
how is this not viral
It’s gaining some traction, hopefully will get more recognition. 😁
@@watchalexander good luck brother 🫡
Quality content
Thank you! 🙏🏽
Messi = 🐐. That’s all that matters
DOPE
Thank you! 🙏🏽
Reality is ballon d'or has become the holy grail in football, as down the years players who came close to challenging (Lewandowski, Haaland,...) will usually become an afterthought and only the winners gets remembered. Even people not associated with football will judge based on individual achievements and i feel the process has unjustly favored some over others even if they did not deserve it. Finally the voting process has so many flaws as players from the same league are relectant to vote for their opposition players even if the are the best and i believe that is what happened to Haaland.
Balon dor is not a golden boot award. Let that sink in
@@malcolmcurve9511 brother thinks he done something, it golden boot is not one of the criteria's why did Messi win the Balon d'Or for the 2012 season even though Barcelona did not win anything of significance? And tbh yes golden boot is not the only criteria but goals throughout the year show the consistency of the player not just at a single tournament.
@@malcolmcurve9511brotha most palayers with the ballodors are golden boot winners
I've no doubt this is as well crafted as your other works; but, I don't care about the subject anywhere near enough to spend 15 minutes on it. I gave it a 'like' because I'm sure it's well done.
Thank you anyhow! More luxury-fashion videos coming in future! 😊
13:02 great video so far!! completely unrelated, what hugh grant movie is this scene from pls
It’s from the film “Maurice”! 😊
thank u!! :) @@watchalexander
I highly recommend audiences to watch this video till the very end.
Funny thing is when u mentioned midfielders, u showed Bellingham scoring instead of defending or assist
I know right? People like Modric would be overlooked due to goal and assist stats.
Good video and analysis, I tend to agree with the narrative, however, I think it fails when individually analysis Messi. I'm a united fan and I have all the reasons to not want him to win, but it's actually insane watching him performing live. I'm sure there are biases and we are complex creatures so the psycho analysis have some level of truth but I don't think we actually understand how good the guy is, and the likes of Ronaldo Fenomeno, Cristiano, Ronaldinho, Modric, Iniesta, these guys are basically another level.
veeeeryyy veeerryyyy niice
Thank you! 😁🙏🏽
@@watchalexanderahahah 😅🙏🙏of course 😊😇
Please share all songs played on the video, great channel👌🏿
Messi 🐐
Another great video, though I imagine if this reaches the more rabid fans, you're gonna end up facing some issues
Thank you! And I hope not aha, I’m a fan of every footballer shown in the video essay.
the award became international in 1995 not in 2007 , George Weah was the first non European player to win it .
From 1995 to 2006, it was officially limited to European leagues. Only in 2007 and beyond did the eligibility for nomination extend to players from any international league - this is how Neymar was able to make the Top 10 in 2010 despite not playing in a European league.
@@watchalexander great explanation, thanks for taking the time to correct my misunderstanding.
My apologies for the wall of text, but this really touched off an item of ideas I wanted to share. I shall keep them short and to the point as I can. IF I step out of line on an idea, again, apologies. First off, allow me to applaud you on using all you have available in forming your content, whether it be visionual wise or sound bites. Your videos are almost tactual in nature. In reading the comments, you are kind in asking as well as acknowledging your viewers. Second, I enjoyed the snippets of Mulan, Howl's Moving Castle, Wolf of Wall Street among others to highlight points keeping the viewer engaged. When the snippet came with the men sitting around a large table, I half expected to see a movie called, A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (a play on words for the football team or that one extraordinary person) Nice join of how it goes back to fashion in promoting a brand as well as being connected to said brand, highlighting your last video. Third, the voting process I found fascinating, especially off field behavior which circles back to someone is always watching you. Not to be creepy, but usually, our behavior is watched and judged by others. Tagged to this is the weird fact by naming these football teams, it is like naming high end to mid fashion brands. Well, at least in my opinion. And finally, the briefness of the Auto-visual mention made me wonder if the 5 senses should be added more to your videos, meaning the more of the senses you can use, the more people can gain an understanding from your videos. One example is why some spas/hotels are favored more than others. What did they see, feel touched by, listen to, smelled (food wise or aromatherapy), or even had one's taste catered to. It is the viewers' experience with your videos which make the takeaway so important. Others walk away baffled, challenged, or charmed by what was viewed. I hope I explained that correctly! I will add my kudos along with the masses of a job well executed. I hope you did well in your studies as I was thinking of you the other day. Please convey to Sam, he did an awesome job bringing a charismatic, authorized tone when reading. I appreciate the inflection of his voice to your script/videos.
Thank you so much for this great comment! 😁🙏🏽 On your third point, I also found that very interesting - it feeds back into the “script” narrative, where players are chosen more so because of what they may represent than their actual achievements on the field. And I’ll pass on your kind words to Sam! 😊
So am I the only one wondering this.. what’s Alexander’s opinion on all 8 of Messi’s Ballondor’s? Or at least since the Messi cr7 era where they’ve dominated. I feel like he’s got an interesting opinion/ answer
Lewandowski deserved the award in 2020; Messi deserved in 2021. The 2023 award is a 50/50 for me. Messi was exceptional in the world cup and had a good season with PSG. Haaland broke goalscoring records but his playing style doesn't really inspire awe. He might have won it had he shone during the latter stages of the champions league. I still feel that he's not the most important player at Man City. They might have won it without Haaland as they had reached a final and semi-final in the preceding years. But then I'd be totally ok with Haaland winning it too. What I feel is that Messi and Ronaldo have ruined the evaluation standards for the prize. Both of them played so well for a long period that only statistics and trophies could be used as a metric to decide who was the better one in a particular season. This has left a bias on the voters' minds for players who either score more goals or win big trophies. For instance, I'd argue that Mbappe and Rodri were better than Haaland in the last season in terms of overall performance level. Mbappe could literally win games on his own when his team was struggling. But he didn't win the World cup or the Champions league. Similarly, Rodri was arguably the most important for City in their treble winning campaign. He was consistent throughout the season and was the main engine of the team. But he didn't score many goals or register assists because of his position. There is also the issue of decent players being hyped up for the award just because they won a huge trophy. We saw this when Jorginho was being considered as a prime candidate just because he won the Euros and the Champions league. He was great in that campaign but he was nowhere near the level of Messi and Lewandowski. The Ballon d'Or awards in the future might be even more controversial. In the past, there were exceptional players who were proper ballers. This made it easy to spot who was the best player in a team. But now, the game has become so rigid and tactics-heavy that only strong, fast athletes are coming up the ranks. Nowadays, how often do we see players who dribble like Messi, Neymar or Ronaldinho? This means that players who just simply stat-pad will also be in contention for the Ballon d'Or.
Alvarez won treble plus a World Cup and no ballon dor. He deserved the most. It’s all a scam.
Creating happiness out of thin air@@doctorsilva1345
@@doctorsilva1345 He wasn't even a starter
He did show it in the layer stages in the Cl what are you saying
Seems like a very Eurocentric prize
This award should be given based on stats giving it based on votes is so dumb
Mbappe & Haalands expression. 💀😂
There is a script all right...
12:18 dude that was 2022
At 12:12 I mentioned on screen that the Ballon d’Or he won for 2023 was based on the previous football calendar; hence, I referred to it as a 2023 accomplishment in the context of the Ballon d’Or.
OHHHHHHHHHH thanks@@watchalexander
To summarise, ballon d'ors have become a joke. Especially since they gave top goalscorer award or something to Lewandowski and Haaland when messi won... It felt like a consolation prize to shut them up.
Please never forget Ronaldo is the all time leading goal scorer he has the best goal per game ratio in la liga history he led Portugal winning a euro cup he’s won championships in 5 different leagues including 3 of the top 5 he’s won 5 champions league titles as well as 5 IFFHS top scorer awards and is also the top scorer in champions league history and will always be the GOAT. 🐐
He was carried in euros .
😂 " led "
He was given 4 awards by papa Perez.
He only had a better laliga goal ratio than Messi because of Messi playing his younger years there, if you look at the goal ratio between Ronaldo joining and leaving Real Madrid Messi had a better laliga goal ratio in that time! 😂
Wow the more I scroll down the clearer it is that children had this video reccommended to them 😂
I've been waiting for this kind of video for a long time. The balon'dor gain precedence in the era of Ronaldo & Messi and during the time of the mergerger between fifa and balon'dor. Before that 'The fifa player of the year use to be the highest individual award a player can get. Pre Ronaldo Messi Era the palyers that won the balon'dor the likes of Owen,Nedved and Gerrard weren't considered as the best football players of that year as players like Figo,Zidane and Ronaldinho won the fifa player of the year that year and were considered the best. Most often the balon'dor winners tend to be the same fifa player of the year winners when they dominate in all sector all through out the year. Another factor was the introduction of the red carpet award ceremony area and the media,fans and celebrity frenzy it causes made a huge difference as before the balon'dor ceremony use to hold in a small circular room with less than 50 people in attendance but the fifa best player was always more of a grand gala celebration event. Personelly i think the format for the fifa player of the year which is now the fifa best is the best format for awarding the best player of a previous year/season. The balon'dor should revert back to honouring base on a club perfomance mainly related to european championship games and not covering the international competitons. By doing that we will stop having the clashes we are having of one player perfoming well in the champions league and the other in the international competion held that year be it World cup or a continental competion. Nice video and Kudo to you. Keep it up!👍
I have trouble understanding when you saiy "The balon'dor should revert BACK to honouring base on a club perfomance mainly related to european championship games and not covering the international competitons." Do you really think that the Ballon d'or now is different from what it was at the start in terms of covering? No there's no difference. It's always covered all competitions even at the time it was only European-centered. World cup and continental competitions are the biggest stages in football. These are unique moments where millions of folks pay attention to the football at the same time. Clashes have always existed and will continue to exist because fans don't value a player's attribute the same way. We're leaving in an era where everyone seems to be heavily stat-oriented where a sheer striker will always be viewed as a better player than a midfield that creates chances, runs the game and sets the striker up to score his score.However, it isn't always true. The definition of the best player seems to be reduced to the goalscoring feature which excludes other players. Even if i never liked the "UEFA best player" award, it is the only award over the recent years whose winners varied a lot. The award almost always goes to a player of the best club or best national(EURO-year) of the year even if that player may not be seen as the best player. They value collective achievements more than individual performances.
@@AbedCruz What am saying is that the clashes that occur is not mainly because of the fans view of things or different players but the perfomance of the players also bring about clashes. Take for instance 2022. Haaland has perform really well through out the year/season or whatever you may call it on an individual level and base on wininng competitions. He deserves an honor. His international team meanwhile beacuse its weak doesnt even give him chance to participate in a World Cup not to mention him think of winning it. Meanwhile Messi had a bad year at club level but he had a good World cup and he won it. Messi being messi and by virtue of wining the world cup he also deserves an award. There comes a clash. So all am saying is a player can have a very bad year/season at club level and he might turn oit and have a good cup and win it. So if balon'dpr can be base on perfomance throight out the year/season from August to June as its now the metrics they award base on so why will a 1month cup competion determine the winner. Whilst FiFA 'The best' is organized officially by fifa and World cup been the most significant major event organized by the official football governing body and the format includes All National Team coaches and captains to cast a vote for the best player as they too one way or another there teams have participated in the World cup either by qualifiers or in the final World cup tournament, can award the best from the best player in the tournament.
@@mohammedtijjanigaro5561 So according to you, the clashes arise because of international tournaments and the only way to sort them out is to give them up and only consider european domestic league competitions and the UCL. I don't know if you're realising what you are saying... But, as i said fans don't value player's performances and attributes the same way . Here's an example: Haaland scoring 36 goals in EPL who had only 6 MOTM through the entire season in the league had a great season. On the other hand, Messi recording in the league 16 goals and 16 assists having 14 MOTM, the highest in all Europe had a BAD season according to your appreciation. How do you explain the difference in MOTM awards of the two players ? Is the goalscoring aspect the only metric to appreciate a player's performance? Personnally i don't think so. This is a great bias that's creating clashes among the fans and the media and it's ruining the essence of foootball. I don't really know how things change so fast in a blink of eyes over the years. In 2019, among the players like Mané, Salah and Becker, Van dijk was picked not only as liverpool best player but as the best player in the world. He was the favorite number 1 to win all the individual awards and he almost did it. He was picked over Salah and Mané who the most part of the Liverpool goals. Up to now, some fans still think Messi did'nt deserve the ballon d'or he won despite his huge display of high quality perfrmances. One year the best player in the world is a defender despite being surrounded by great players of the likes of Salah and Mané. Another year, the best player is a striker because of highest goalscoring prowess. Is there any logic of choice?
Someone finally gets it.