Pogba exposes Ballon d’Or but Fernandes leaving Man Utd for Man City would not offer easy solution | OneFootball

Paul Pogba stumbled upon a valid point about the Ballon d’Or, but he did not get everything right with his argument on Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes has moved ahead of several Arsenal and Manchester City players as the favourite to win this year’s PFA Premier League Player of the Year award, and it would be hard to begrudge him this trophy.

Since returning to his preferred No.10 role, Fernandes has been at the heart of everything good that’s come from Man Utd this term, and he remarkably has 26 goal involvements in his 30 Premier League appearances.

There have been question marks regarding Fernandes’ attitude at times, but he has been consistently brilliant for the vast majority of his time at Man Utd during a largely dark time for the club.

Despite this, Fernandes has never reached the stage of being a firm contender for the Ballon d’Or, even though he is certainly one of the best midfielders in the world and has been for some time.

And on a new episode of the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, former Man Utd flop Pogba, who was a teammate of Fernandes, has argued that he would have a far greater chance of winning the Ballon d’Or if he played for arch-rivals Manchester City.

“Bruno Fernandes, in other big clubs, is in the top three Ballon D’or,” Pogba said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

He added: “Do you think Bruno, if he’s in the other team, he’s not in the top three, a Ballon d’Or player? You put him in [Manchester] City, he’s in the Ballon d’Or.”

Despite being able to do everything, Pogba also pointed out why he does not think Fernandes has been in contention for the Ballon d’Or.

“He’s everywhere on the pitch. He has a volume. He keeps running. He’s smart. He can play two touches, one touch. He can shoot.”

He continued: “[But] when you don’t win, we don’t think about you.”

Pogba is partially right with his exposé of the Ballon d’Or

The Ballon d’Or remains a personal accolade that every footballer in the world dreams of winning, but for a long time, the victor has not been selected on merit alone.

Instead of the winner being chosen for their own quality and achievements, the largest contributing factor to the decision is the trophies they have won in that calendar year.

The voting journalists often opt for a standout performer from the squad that won the World Cup and/or Champions League over a better player who ended the year with fewer or no trophies.

Trophies do need to be taken into account when picking the Ballon d’Or, but it should be weighted more to individual performance.

And by current logic, Fernandes would naturally have a better chance of winning the accolade with Man City than Man Utd, though this is not the guarantee that Pogba proclaims it to be.

Fernandes is a wonderful footballer, and he would continue to be so at Man City, but part of his shine is that he has performed so far past expectations for a generally poor Man Utd side.

He has often stood out like a sore thumb at Man Utd, but that would not necessarily be the case at Man City; he would also not be given the freedom to single-handedly run the team and stand out as he has at Old Trafford.

The idea of Fernandes playing for Man City or another European giant is a fascinating one, but he may struggle to replicate his Man Utd numbers elsewhere as he shares the spotlight.