With the heated Premier League title race coming to its concluding stretch and the Champions League semifinals set to get underway, the 2023/24 season is about to reach its peak conclusion, with plenty of intrigue remaining despite most of Europe’s other top five leagues settling results.
The 2024 Ballon d’Or rankings are now increasingly on the minds of fans, with supporters from all over the globe debating the merits of their superstar players and how they all stack up against each other.
For example, how do the young stars of Xabi Alonso’s historic Bayer Leverkusen side stack up against the elite superstars of the Premier League? Will a Real Madrid or Barcelona player take home the Ballon d’Or again?
Here are the latest rankings after Jude Bellingham, the man of the hour, fired home a late winner to give Real Madrid another title-deciding El Clasico win over Barcelona this season.
10. Bayer Leverkusen LB Alex Grimaldo
Alex Grimaldo has proven to be one of the best signings in years. Bayer Leverkusen snapped Grimaldo up for free from Benfica, and ever since, clubs around Europe are surely regretting they didn’t see what Simon Rolfes and Co. did.
The 28-year-old is playing the football of his life at left back, providing the kind of auxiliary attacking production and playmaking that you’d expect from an elite winger. And his goal-scoring output is superior to that of some notable strikers, even in the free-scoring Bundesliga.
With 9 goals, 12 assists, and 2.5 key passes per game, Grimaldo’s attacking output can go toe-to-toe with many top wingers in European football. He has been instrumental to Bayer Leverkusen’s success and Bundesliga title triumph.
9. Arsenal RW Bukayo Saka
Arsenal fans will argue that Bukayo Saka is a little low on this list, but it is a huge feat for a player from the club to rank as a prime Ballon d’Or candidate, considering where the Gunners were just a few years ago when they were still building up under Mikel Arteta.
Saka can surge higher in these rankings in future seasons, because it is easy to forget that he is still just 22 years old. The England international is firing Arsenal into another Premier League title race, putting up 14 goals with 8 assists in his best season yet.
Besides adding vital end product to a team that was lacking a scoring striker until Kai Havertz’s rebound, Saka works his socks off for Arsenal offensively and defensively. He is averaging 2.5 key passes and 2.0 fouls drawn per game.
8. Real Madrid FW Vinicius Junior
In truth, Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior has had better seasons, as he has dealt with injuries and a position switch to a left-forward position next to Rodrygo Goes in a two-man attack.
Although Vinicius Jr. has less attacking freedom away from the wing, he is still putting up great numbers for Real Madrid and has been getting even more lethal as the season has gone on.
Vini Jr. has scored 13 goals with 5 assists in LaLiga, and he’s added 7 goal contributions in 7 Champions League matches. The ex-Flamengo man tends to bring his best on the biggest stage, shining against Europe’s elite opponents on UCL nights.
In the Champions League, the 23-year-old forward is averaging 2.4 key passes and a staggering 3.0 dribbles completed game for Real Madrid, putting up around 5 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game in LaLiga. Vini Jr. is a fixture on Ballon d’Or rankings lists, so this is actually a lower placement than he is used to.
7. Stuttgart ST Serhou Guirassy
One of the biggest breakout stars in world football is responsible for Vinicius Jr. falling a bit in the Ballon d’Or rankings, as Serhou Guirassy is putting together a special 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign for VfB Stuttgart.
Die Schwaben are in the thick of a Champions League battle with regular knockout side RB Leipzig and current semifinalists Borussia Dortmund.
A large part of that is in thanks to Guirassy, who already did a lot to save Stuttgart from relegation last season. He has been even more impactful this season with 25 goals, with his output being more impressive than Harry Kane’s 33 goals for Bayern Munich, given the differences in the quality of their supporting cast.
On the subject of supporting teammates, Guirassy has done a lot of that, too, offering far more than just goals. The Guinean international is averaging 1.7 key passes and 2.0 fouls drawn per game.
6. Bayer Leverkusen AM Florian Wirtz
Alex Grimaldo has been sensational at left back for Bayer Leverkusen, and teammates like Jeremie Frimpong and Exequiel Palacios wouldn’t be bad Ballon d’Or shouts either.
However, there is no mistaking the fact that Bayer Leverkusen is Florian Wirtz’s team. Whether it is Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or some top Premier League side, Wirtz is going to be an elite player at one of the big clubs in the near future.
For now, though, he is the centerpiece player for Leverkusen, and he has been one of the top players in the Bundesliga for a few years now.
Just 20 years old, Wirtz is advanced beyond his years with end product rivaling top Bundesliga strikers. Wirtz is at 11 goals and 11 assists, averaging 2.4 key passes and 2.6 dribbles completed per game. He is one of world football’s premier playmakers.
5. Manchester City FW Phil Foden
It is baffling to think that some people find Phil Foden overrated or were criticizing him at the start of the season, because he could very well end up being the Premier League Player of the Season over Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
The 23-year-old Foden has quietly notched 14 goals and 7 assists to nearly match Saka despite starting three fewer matches. Foden provides an all-around impact in build-up and defensive phases that not even Saka (or Salah, for that matter) can match.
He is averaging 2.0 key passes and 1.4 dribbles completed per game in the Premier League with essentially equivalent numbers in the Champions League.
Foden can start at any attacking or midfield position and fulfill just about any role on the pitch for Pep Guardiola. That he can do all that while impacting the final score is simply phenomenal.
4. Inter Milan ST Lautaro Martinez
Inter Milan are running away with the Scudetto, as rival Juventus’ early-season challenge has turned out to be nothing remotely resembling a challenge.
Lautaro Martinez broke out from a mid-season slump in 2022/23 to play the most vital role in Inter reaching the Champions Legaue final and winning the Coppa Italia, and he has absolutely picked up where he left off in 2023/24, maintaining that consistency throughout the season.
Benefiting from the masterstroke free signing of Marcus Thuram – an upgrade on current Roma flop Romelu Lukaku – Lautaro has bagged 23 goals for the Nerazzurri with 1.1 key passes and 1.6 fouls drawn per game.
One of the hard-working No. 9’s in world football, Lautaro has been able to focus even more on goal-scoring with Thuram in the fold, and it is certainly paying off for Inter.
3. PSG FW Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe answered the critics in a major way by firing PSG to the Champions League semifinals behind a Remontada of their own, vanquishing Barcelona at the Spotify Camp Nou in 4-1 fashion, with the Frenchman bagging a brace to sink what will be his future chief rivals while at Real Madrid.
It’s been business as usual for Mbappe in the 2023/24 season, as he has lit up Ligue 1 with 24 goals and 6 assists, and it is getting to the point where the league has become beyond too easy for the World Cup winner.
Mbappe’s Ballon d’Or candidacy mostly stems from his brilliance in the Champions League, as he has scored 8 goals in 10 games with 3.1 dribbles completed and 2.1 key passes per match. He is at the top of his game.
2. Bayern Munich ST Harry Kane
Bayern Munich are through to the Champions League semifinals despite their disappointing season in the Bundesliga, which has already been lost to Bayer Leverkusen.
Harry Kane may not go trophyless after all, but the England No. 9 is going to have to keep showing this elevated side of his game at Die Roten in order to avoid blanking with the Bavarian giants.
In the league, Kane is on the cusp of breaking more records for Bayern, as he has already scored 33 goals with 8 assists. In the Champions League, he is averaging exactly one goal contribution per game with 7 goals and 3 assists in 10 matches.
1. Real Madrid AM Jude Bellingham
Jude Bellingham is undoubtedly the 2024 Ballon d’Or favorite. The England international scored a stoppage-time matchwinner to help Real Madrid defeat Barcelona 3-2 in El Clasico, and he already had a brace in Real Madrid’s victory over Barcelona in the first Clasico of the 2023/24 season.
As it stands, Bellingham is in a tight race for the Pichichi trophy as Spain’s top goal-scorer with Girona striker Artem Dovbyk. Bellingham has scored 17 goals with 4 assists as the No. 10 for Real Madrid in Carlo Ancelotti’s new system. He is averaging 2.8 fouls drawn, 1.7 dribbles completed, 1.6 key passes, and 2.3 combined tackles and interceptions per game.
Bellingham has no glaring weaknesses to his game and has a killer mentality in clutch moments. He has been worth every cent – and then some – that Real Madrid paid to Borussia Dortmund in this 100 million euro handshake transfer. Jude has transformed Real Madrid from a side that lost LaLiga last season to one that could clean house again in 2024.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.