Papin tempers Mbappé's Ballon d'Or ambitions: "Maybe not this year"

Jean-Pierre Papin believes in Kylian Mbappé for the Ballon d’Or, but not necessarily for the 2026 edition. Questioned about the ambitions of the Real Madrid forward, the 1991 winner tempered the bombastic statements of the Real Madrid striker, whose name will be officially unveiled on October 26 in London.

Mbappé certainly has solid arguments to make. Author of a prolific season, he finished as the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League, La Liga and the FIFA World Cup, publicly claiming to have “burned the retina”. An assumed media campaign that Papin judges unnecessary: “He has the quality to have it, he doesn’t need to say it. Or maybe at Real, they force him to say it.”

The former international remains nonetheless effusive about the player himself: “Kylian, for me, is the striker of tomorrow. Already, he is the striker of today, but he is the striker of tomorrow because he has everything that everyone could want to have. He is fast, right foot, left foot. He can play on the right, he can play in the middle, he can play anywhere.” Papin therefore has no doubt that Mbappé will one day inscribe his name in the record books.

But on the current edition, “JPP” tempers: “Maybe not this year…” Drawing on his own experience, he recalls that no player can proclaim himself Ballon d’Or in advance. “You become Ballon d’Or, you can’t say ‘I’m going to be Ballon d’Or’, because it depends so much on things other than you”, he explained, stressing that individual performances are not enough: you must also play for a big club, shine in European competition and make an impact on the international stage.

Criteria that Mbappé meets, but which he shares with dense competition: Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Fabian Ruiz, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are among the main contenders for the supreme award.