It is thought that this year’s Ballon d’Or could go to either Manchester City midfielder Rodri, or Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr.
The 2024 award will be handed out later this month, and many Man City fans feel Rodri would be a deserving winner of the Ballon d’Or.
The Spaniard has been at the forefront of the club’s success over the last few years, and is rightly now starting to finally receive his flowers in terms of individual recognition.
He has been instrumental for Manchester City for a long time now.
Sadly, he will not be playing for a while now after sustained knee ligament damage.
Fans were left devastated by Rodri’s injury blow, with many already counting down the days until he is back.
Hopefully, the injury will not impact his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or.
Rodri’s teammate Ederson – who also plays with Vinicius Jr for Brazil – has been speaking about the award, and has now shared his pick for the 2024 award.
Ederson backs Vinicius Jr for the Ballon d’Or over Rodri
It was reported last month that Vinicius Jr is set to win the Ballon d’Or over Rodri. But City fans will hope that claim proves to be wide of the mark.
One man who wouldn’t mind seeing Vinicius beat Rodri is Ederson, who gave his thoughts to TNT Sports Brazil.
He said (as quoted by Fabrizio Romano): “I hope Viní Jr wins the Ballon d’Or’
“He deserves it for everything he did last season. On the other hand, if Rodri wins I’ll be happy as well.”
Vinicius also had a very good season with Real Madrid in 2023/24.
He scored 24 goals and laid on 11 assists in 39 appearances, playing a crucial role in the club winning La Liga and the Champions League. Vinicius, of course, scored against Borussia Dortmund in Real’s 2-0 win in the final.
This term, Vinicius has flown out the traps, scoring four and making seven assists in 12 appearances.
Rodri deserves Ballon d’Or
It is interesting to hear Ederson slightly backing Vinicius to win the Ballon d’Or over Rodri, a player he’s with day in day out.
This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to many City fans who are adamant that Rodri should win.
It is certainly difficult to argue against him winning. Ultimately, Rodri is a player who just does everything you could possibly want a defensive midfielder to do.
| Rodri for Manchester City |
| Appearances – 260 |
| Goals – 26 |
| Assists – 30 |
| Trophies won – 11 |
He controls games, he protects the backline and he even provides an attacking threat, as evidenced by his nine goals and 14 assists last season.
Rodri hardly ever has a bad game for both City and Spain, and he would make a very deserving winner. Even German legend Lothar Matthaus said Rodri would deserve the award.
It looks like it may go to Vinicius this time around, and that would be disappointing for a lot of City fans, as good as the Brazilian has been himself.
