Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has on several occasions expressed his contempt at the whole institution of the World Player Of The Year Award as according to him it defeats the purpose of team play and focuses more of personal endeavour.
Jose Mourinho has also expressed his support of this assertion in an interview where he went on to say, “We are always looking at the individual performance, the individual stat, the player that runs more. Because you run 11km in a game and I run nine you did a better job than I did? Maybe not! Maybe my 9km were more important than your 11. “For me, football is collective. The individual is welcome if you want to make our group better. But you have to work for us, not we have to work for you.”
Both these managers are seasoned campaigners and are probably speaking based on their own experiences but their assertions may not be entirely true.
Firstly, though the criterion for the best player is loosely defined, there is no doubt that the best player is usually an individual who gives his fair share to the betterment of the team and its ultimate goals. One cannot ermege as the best globally if one does not propel their team forward and thus “ work for the team” as Mr Mourinho requires. Furthermore, the team moral is likely to be at notable levels when the squad consists of the best player in the world. The other players are also likely to work harder to improve their own skills so as to be closer in comparison to their player of the year teammate.
In some instances the team fabric is strengthened by the process of trying to win the Ballon D’or Award as the other ten players on the team work in unison to ensure that their teammate scores as many as possible and develops to be the best they can. The result of this is the recent composition of the Teams Of The Years that have been dominated by players from Real Madrid and Barcelona where the world’s best ply their trade. This undoubtedly shows that the teams have become better as a whole due to the presence of the world’s best players all propelled by the motivation of the Ballon d'Or Award.
Source: DSG
