The Ballon d’Or ceremony is becoming silly and overblown, even if it produced a worthy winner in Cristiano Ronaldo. But controversy over awards was not confined to Zurich.
It also surfaced in Hull, where Jose Mourinho reminded Barclays, sponsor of the Premier League and its monthly nomination of the best player and manager, that Eden Hazard had yet to be honoured.
The Chelsea manager paid justified tribute to his Belgian jewel, saying: “He is a player who... feels and accepts that a team player is more than a talented player and he has done it without losing his fantastic ability.”
Quite. Mourinho has a gift for persuading flair players to work like demons — Deco at Porto was the outstanding example, though Angel di Maria at Real Madrid could also be cited — and Hazard shows every sign of making the same step from entertainer to winner. But Mourinho added: “Let’s see if the Barclays Premier League give him player of the month. Maybe they don’t like to go to Cobham because the kid is waiting but the trophy is not arriving.”
As a member of the judging panel, which includes media and supporter representatives as well as leading football figures, I’d like to point out that players from other training grounds are eligible.
This season’s winners have been, in chronological order: Daniel Sturridge, Aaron Ramsey, Sergio Aguero, Tim Krul and Luis Suarez. Krul’s name might raise an eyebrow but there was an obligation to salute Newcastle’s outstanding November — during which they beat Chelsea.
Candidates for my vote this month, if they maintain their form, would include not only Hazard but Suarez and the Arsenal defenders Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Bacary Sagna.
At the risk of stimulating Mourinho’s sense of injustice, I admit that only one Chelsea player has been chosen in nearly three years. And, in case he wants to know, it was Juan Mata.
