Kylian Mbappé has won two straight Pichichi awards, led the Champions League scoring charts and lifted a World Cup Golden Boot. He has not won the Ballon d’Or.
Gilles Grimandi, a longtime scout for Arsène Wenger at Arsenal and a close contact of the Mbappé family, told Goal in a feature published on Wednesday that collective silverware is the piece the striker has always been missing.
“The only problem is he didn’t win any collective trophy,” Grimandi said.
The omission says less about Mbappé than it does about the strength of the opposition. Last year’s prize went to Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembélé after his club’s European treble, with Mbappé finishing seventh in the vote.
Read also: Ferrari take gamble with final 2026 upgrade ahead of United States Grand Prix
A mother’s promise in the family home
The anecdote Grimandi carries from his scouting days has not faded. He and Wenger visited the 17-year-old Mbappé at home, hoping to persuade him to join Arsenal before his Monaco breakthrough.
“His mom said, ‘one day he will be a Ballon d’Or winner’. Me, I was embarrassed,” Grimandi told Goal.
Mbappé is now 27. The prediction still stands open.
Numbers that would convince in another year
Mbappé’s output alone has been the kind that normally lands a Ballon d’Or. He won the Pichichi again last season, finishing on 25 goals in 31 La Liga matches, and he returned on Saturday with another double in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Sevilla.
Read also: Lothar Matthäus hits back at Joshua Kimmich critics with Bayern Munich statement
The problem Grimandi named is the one Mbappé cannot fix on his own. Real Madrid went without a major European trophy last season while PSG swept the continent, and the panel followed the silverware.
Grimandi backs Kane for the London Palladium
The 2026 Ballon d’Or is awarded at the London Palladium on Monday, 26 October, and Mbappé is on the 30-man shortlist. The betting markets have Kane as the clear favourite ahead of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, and Grimandi told Goal he would love to see the England captain win one.
Kane’s case is built on precisely the collective trophy Grimandi flagged as missing from Mbappé’s. He scored 36 Bundesliga goals to claim a third straight Torjägerkanone as Bayern Munich retained the Bundesliga and won the DFB-Pokal, and England finished third at the 2026 World Cup, their best finish since 1966.
Mbappé has one more live showcase before the vote is read. Real Madrid host RB Leipzig at the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday night in matchday three of the Champions League league phase, with José Mourinho back in the Madrid dugout since June.
Read also: Report: Diego Simeone sets sights on Tottenham star as Atletico Madrid plot major transfer
