Arsenal trio deserve no better than 29th, 21st and 15th in Ballon d’Or as every player’s ranking explained

· Football365

The Premier League champions have no player in the Ballon d’Or top ten and we’ve run through the ranking to explain why the Arsenal trio are (almost) precisely where they ...

Arsenal fans are fuming after none of the three Gunners players in the running for the Ballon d’Or made the top ten.

A journalist working for the Ballon d’Or official website will have been given a stern talking to after three separate articles declaring each of Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe the winner were published in error hours before the great and the good starting walking the red carpet.

We don’t yet know who will claim the gong, but we do know that trio are in the top ten along with Ousmane Dembele, Erling Haaland, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lionel Messi, Michael Olise, Fabian Ruiz and Rodri, while the ranking from 30th to 11 has already been announced.

Arsenal won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final but Declan Rice was their highest-placed player in 15th, while centre-back duo Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba came 21st and 29th respectively.

Social media was awash with angry Gooners taking aim at various players who have finished above their beloved trio, but here we run through the ranking in a bid to explain why they’re (almost) precisely where they should be.

30) Sadio Mane

Gripes would have been reasonable had the former Liverpool forward finished above any of the Arsenal three.

29) William Saliba

Premier League winner and Champions League loser.

28) Julian Quinones

33 goals in 31 Saudi Pro League games for Al-Qadsiah and four goals in five World Cup games for Mexico.

27) Bruno Fernandes

21 Premier League assists to break the all-time season record and Premier League Player of the Year.

26) Dayot Upamecano

Fair cop, weird that he’s above Saliba.

25) Marquinhos

Champions League-winning captain

24) Luis Diaz

48 goal contributions in his debut season for Bayern Munich.

23) Nuno Mendes

Champions League winner and best left-back in the world.

22) Lautaro Martinez

Serie A title-winning captain, World Cup runner up and scorer of the winning goal in the semi-final vs England.

21) Gabriel Magalhaes

Premier League winner, Champions League loser and penalty fluffer.

20) Willian Pacho

Champions League winner.

19) Joao Neves

Champions League winner.

18) Marc Cucurella

World Cup winner.

17) Vinicius Junior

He’s Vinicius Junior.

16) Ferran Torres

La Liga winner and World Cup winner who scored the winning goal in the final.

15) Declan Rice

Premier League winner and Champions League loser.

14) Vitinha

Champions League winner.

13) Achraf Hakimi

Champions League winner.

12) Pau Cubarsi

La Liga and World Cup winner.

11) Jude Bellingham

Put in maybe the best individual performance from an Englishman at a major tournament since 1966.

?) Ousmane Dembele

Champions League winner.

?) Erling Haaland

Goalscoring robot.

?) Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Champions League winner and Champions League Player of the Season.

?) Lionel Messi

38 MLS goal contributions in 28 games. Eight goals and four assists at the World Cup.

?) Michael Olise

53 goal contributions for Bayern Munich.

?) Fabian Ruiz

World Cup and Champions League winner.

?) Rodri

World Cup winner.

?) Lamine Yamal

La Liga and World Cup winner.

?) Kylian Mbappe

La Liga, Champions League and World Cup Golden Boot winner.

?) Harry Kane

61-goal season.

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