Former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has claimed that Kevin de Bruyne will not win the Ballon d’Or this season despite a stunning season for Manchester City.
The Belgian playmaker is one of the front-runners for the award this year, alongside Real Madrid star Karim Benzema, having played a key role in another title success at the Etihad Stadium. He ended the season with the highest goalscoring tally of his career with 19, including a sensational four-goal haul in a thumping win over Wolverhampton Wanderers recently. Meanwhile, he also managed to notch a further 14 assists.
Despite those statistics, van Gaal has claimed that De Bruyne could be overlooked for the Ballon d’Or this season due to France Football’s preference for forwards or wingers for the award. Luka Modric is the only midfielder to win the award in the last 15 years, owing to the duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Van Gaal instead joked that Club Brugge wonderkid Noa Lang would likely be higher in the pecking order having enjoyed a fine season in the Belgian top-flight this campaign.
Speaking ahead of the Netherlands’ Nations League clash with Belgium, van Gaal said: “Kevin De Bruyne, of course. For me, that's the winner of the Golden Ball, but he won't be chosen any time soon. They always pick attackers. In that respect, Noa Lang has a better chance than De Bruyne (laughs).”
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The award was not given out in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but it was reinstated the following year as Messi once again controversially scooped the award, many expecting Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski to claim it. Ahead of the awarding, De Bruyne was just one of a lengthy list of players to give his backing to the Polish striker.
He said: "If I have to choose, I'm looking at the two-year period, so I'd choose (Robert) Lewandowski for what he has done the last two years, goalscoring wise. He'd be my pick.”Van Gaal then will certainly be hoping that De Bruyne is unable to summon his impressive power just for one evening as the Netherlands and Belgium as the two sides open their respective Nations League campaigns.
The Manchester City midfielder has not actually appeared in each of his country’s last two fixtures but before that had contributed to five goals in just four appearances - whilst he also captained the Red Devils for just the third time in a 1-1 draw with Wales in qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
