Why Lautaro Martinez should win the 2024 Ballon d’or
Recently, the Euros and Copa América finished and with that, all major tournaments of this season have been played. So, once again, the age-old question of who should win the ballon d’or arises. It is fair to say, that the race for the golden ball is as open as it hasn’t been in many years mainly because there weren’t one or two players with absolutely outstanding seasons, that separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but also because there have been many players, who all had great seasons and can lay claim to being the best player of 2024.
Many media outlets have named their favourites in the last few days and, in my opinion, there are five names who all have a legitimate claim to the title: Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Rodri, Dani Carvajal and Lautaro Martinez. All of them won at least 2 major trophies. All of them have been integral to their team’s success. All of them had big individual moments throughout the season. And even though every one of the mentioned players would certainly deserve the Ballon d’Or, I would like to make a case for Lautaro Martinez, who not only ticks all the boxes of a Ballon d’Or winner, but also separates himself from the other contenders.
1 Statistics
Lautaros statistics speak for themselves. 24 goals in Serie A. His best goal output ever and eight goals ahead of the 2nd best scorer Dušan Vlahović. There was simply no competition for him in the league this season, though it is fair to mention that many Serie A sides lacked a prolific goalscorer. Still, 32 goals across all competitions, including 5 in the Copa América, are a sight to behold and speak of one of the best strikers in the last season.
To be fair, his statistics compared to the winners in recent years don’t seem that impressive. If you compare them to other contenders this year though, it becomes clear that he is one of the best, with only a couple of players like Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland outscoring him, who in turn have not been able to lift more than one major trophy and play for more dominant sides in their respective leagues.
2 Most important player for club and country
Argentina scored nine goals across the Copa América this year. Five of them, so 55%, came from Lautaro, including the winning goal in the final of the competition. With Messi’s output slowing down this year, winning the title without Martinez seems unlikely in hindsight, if not impossible. Furthermore, he has already been named as Inter Milan’s player of the season and with good reason. His 27 goals for them were decisive in winning Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana. Not to mention he scored twice as many goals, as their 2nd best scorer Marcus Thuram. There’s no doubt that other Ballon D’or Contenders like Vinicius Junior were crucial in securing their club’s success in the past year, but in my opinion, none of them were as decisive for their respective club as Lautaro Martinez.
3 Finally a big game player?
With lacklustre performances in many important games throughout the last seasons, doubts about Martinez’s ability to turn up in the big games started to emerge. Critics certainly weren’t silenced after he missed his penalty in the shootout against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League. Still, he was able to redeem himself with his goal in the supercoppa final and, more importantly, his title-winning goal in the final of the Copa América. It’s moments like these, that often played a crucial role in deciding the winner of the ballon d’or. And while other contenders certainly had big moments, there’s always something special about title-winning performances in international competitions.
In conclusion, Lautaro Martinez performed great throughout the season and was, in my opinion, the most important player for Inter Milan and Argentina in winning two major trophies. While other Ballon D’or contenders have been very significant in winning silverware for their clubs and countries, I believe that none of them has been the most important player, at least not as clearly as Lautaro.
But that’s only my opinion, so I’m open to debate. Feel free to write your view on the matter in the comments down below :)