Ballon d’Or: Papin irked by Mbappé’s “me, me, me and me” campaign

Jean-Pierre Papin went on France Télévisions on Monday and put words on what bothers him in Kylian Mbappé’s Ballon d’Or campaign. The 1991 winner started with praise, as reported by RMC Sport and Foot Mercato: “Kylian, I like him a lot, he is a man of records.” Then the reproach: “But at some point, it is ‘me, me, me and me’. You become Ballon d’Or, you cannot keep saying you want to. The others decide. In his communication, at some point, it was: ‘Nobody but me deserves the Ballon d’Or’. It was too much for me.”

A season of records, no major trophy

Mbappé worked the airwaves in the days before the vote closed. On RFI, he summed up his season: “I was top scorer in all the biggest competitions and I think it can be a good year for me, and I can feel it.” The numbers back him: 25 goals in La Liga and 15 in the Champions League, top scorer in both competitions; 22 goals across three World Cups, the all-time record in the tournament. RMC notes what the file lacks: no major trophy sits beside those numbers.

A criterion that counts against him

Papin aims at the message more than the season. “Today, when you look at how the Ballon d’Or is awarded, there is a whole set of criteria and that one does not go Kylian’s way. The rest is all fine,” he added. His own tip wears another shirt: “Harry Kane, there is nothing going wrong for him today.” He would not hand the trophy to Mbappé “because of the communication”. RMC lists Dembélé, Yamal, Kane and Mbappé among the contenders, with no clear favourite.

Votes already closed

The 70th Ballon d’Or will be awarded on 26 October in London by a jury of journalists from the top 100 Fifa nations, and the votes are already in: Papin’s words will not shift the count. They set the tone of the public debate until the envelope is opened. No reaction has come from Mbappé’s camp, and none of the four outlets reporting the remarks mentions one.