Second Spanish winner
©TM/IMAGO
Rodri has been crowned the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner at a lavish ceremony in France tonight. It was widely anticipated that Vinicius Jr would be awarded the prestigious accolade but it emerged on Monday afternoon that the Real Madrid star had missed out. The award handed out by magazine France football is measured on performances across the 2023/24 season and Rodri enjoyed a spectacular campaign for club and country.
The 28-year-old was instrumental as Manchester City won their fifth consecutive Premier League trophy and during Spain’s impressive Euro 2024 triumph. Rodri becomes just the second Spanish player in history to win the Ballon d’Or and the first Manchester City player. Since the start of 2023, Rodri has only lost four games in which he’s started and the defensive midfielder has picked up eight trophies during that time period. His importance to Man City and Spain can’t be overstated and he’s a deserved winner of the Ballon d’Or. When it comes to individual awards, attacking players are traditionally favoured but Rodri deserves recognition for his exceptional season.
Why Rodri deserved to win the Ballon d’Or?
It’s difficult to produce a legitimate argument that any player consistently outperformed Rodri across the 2023/24 season. The Spaniard seldom has a bad game and he’s comfortably the best player in the world in his position. Rodri enjoys incredible influence on games due to his calmness, tactical intelligence and technical excellence. His ability to control games is unrivalled in modern football and he’s now regarded in the same esteem as his revered Spanish predecessors in Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Xabi Alonso. Rodri is the epitome of a team player without ego and he rarely indulges the limelight but he accepted the acclaim after beating England after being asked about the prospect of winning the Ballon d’Or in July.
“Spanish football deserves a Ballon d’Or winner,” he said. “I’m going to be honest, I would like for a Spaniard to win it, I don’t care who. It would be great. I’ve heard that Daniel Carvajal also deserves it. From an individual standpoint, I’m very proud of what I am doing and the recognition I’m getting.” If the award was based of performances alone – not winning the Champions League or reputations – then Rodri was rightly the leading candidate.
The rise of Rodri
Rodri’s standout performances at Euro 2024 earned him a €10m in our market value update after the tournament to his current valuation of €130m . The defensive midfielder became the most valuable Spanish player in history – before Lamine Yamal earned an overtook him in October – and he’s still the most valuable player in his position after moving ahead of Declan Rice. Rodri is also the most valuable player to be born in 1996 and by some distance – €60m more than second ranked James Maddison. Rodri’s market value has soared since making his debut for Villareal and it’s risen exponentially across the last year. In June 2023, Rodri was valued at €90m but that’s increased by €40m since then.
The Ballon d’Or candidates
Vinicius Junior was the strong favourite to win the famous award presented by French magazine French Football. The Brazilian winger was instrumental as Real Madrid won their second Champions League title in three years, scoring in the final against Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid also won La Liga with Vinicius Jr finishing the season with 33 goal contributions in 39 games for the Spanish giants. The 24-year-old became the joint-most valuable player in the October, alongside Erling Haaland, at €180 million. A disappointing Copa America campaign with Brazil has potentially counted against Vinicius and he finished second in the voting with teammate Jude Bellingham in third.
Player Comparison
Real Madrid
Real Madrid
€200.00m
Market Value
€180.00m
24
Age
21
Left Winger
Position
Attacking Midfield
Jun 30, 2027
Contract until
Jun 30, 2029
Full Player Comparison
The 21-year-old enjoyed a remarkable start to his Madrid career after moving from Borussia Dortmund for €103m. Bellingham acclimatised brilliantly and went on an incredible run of scoring goals and providing assists. The Englishman has also developed a reputation for stepping up on the big occasions after two match winning goals against Barcelona and assists in the Champions League and Euro 2024 finals. Despite finishing with 36 goal contributions for Madrid, Bellingham’s performance levels dropped in 2024 and he wasn’t at his best during Euro 2024.
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