Ousmane Dembélé is playing the best football of his career at PSG and has firmly entered the Ballon d’Or conversation, joining Barcelona standout Lamine Yamal as a leading contender.
While the UEFA Champions League is expected to carry the most weight in deciding the winner, experts believe the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup shouldn’t influence the outcome.
Since Kylian Mbappé’s exit, the former Barcelona winger has taken on a leadership role and consistently delivered in key Champions League moments.
Dembélé, now 28, has racked up 33 goals and 13 assists in 48 matches across all competitions this season, with many of those coming in pressure-packed European games.
He found the net against Manchester City and recorded a hat-trick against VfB Stuttgart to help PSG reach the knockout stage. His form didn’t dip from there—he added goals against Stade Brestois, Liverpool, and Arsenal and chipped in two assists across both legs against Aston Villa.
Should Kylian Mbappé be challenging Barcelona, PSG standout
On the latest Ensemble PSG Podcast, French football expert Jonathan Johnson noted that he doesn’t see Kylian Mbappé entering the Ballon d’Or conversation even if Real Madrid win the Club World Cup.
“I think, specific to Mbappé and Real Madrid’s situation, it would be ridiculous for Mbappé’s Ballon d’Or weight to hinge solely on scoring a handful of goals and helping them win the Club World Cup—especially when many of the teams won’t even be at full strength because they’re not taking the competition entirely seriously, needing to rest players ahead of next season.
“So for me, it would be nonsense. But there’s a lot of nonsense in modern football, unfortunately. I’m not going to say it will happen, but I wouldn’t totally rule out some stupidity like that either.”
It is the same stupidity and nonsense that had led Messi to win the Balon d’ Or eventhough most times he did not win trophies at club level. Most of his awards came from individual performances and the handful of goals he scored; not from collective team success.
So it will not be different if Kylian Mbappé win the Balon d’ Or.