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Individual award

Aside playing for honours in the field of play by players for their various clubs in various competition which is the major aim of the club owners or investors likewise the entire fan base, there is the need to reward players who have distinguished themselves or has done some extraordinary work or exhibited their talents in their areas of specialization (attackers, midfielder, defenders and goal keepers as well as coaches). This serves as symbol for hard work. Even though many have criticized the need for honouring individuals players instead of the team of which the player cannot do without but we have seen a situation where some individual players have single handedly carried the responsibility of ensuring their team bypass many hurdle and when such players are not in the pitch with others, the team continue to struggle.

In the game of football, those who scores the goals are the ones who are specially recognised as being outstanding over the years no matter what other team members do in the team. We have seen players like Inesta of Spain lost out of this prestigious award because he wasn’t scoring the goals. However, he was the engine that drives the car not the driver. Though the 2010 award for the Ballon d’Or raised many argument but it didn’t change anything until recently last year when Lucas Modric who won the champions league with Real Madrid on three occasions and took his national team to the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was honoured with such award with more attention to a kind of compensation to previous years of underrating the performance of the non scorers in the game of football.

Outstanding keepers

It is on record that no matter how the defender play or how fantastic the keeper keeps, he cannot win the highest individual honour in the game which the world best player. Goal keepers like Gainluigi Buffon of Juventus now in PSG, Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich and especially Ike Casillas of Real Madrid and Spain who won everything winnable in football never had his hand on it. This may be a kind of bias in the game but fans are more interested in those who bring the last touch that makes them happy.

With Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who has dominated the award in the past decades with each of them sharing five of it till last year when it exchanged hands in an arguable manner, are still in the lips of many for the next award especially Lionel Messi who fared better this season than his rivals but many have started to speculate while neither of the two deserves this award in the just concluded league season.

Virgil tipped for award

The Liverpool team that lifted the most honoured league trophy are tipped to produced the best player. Portugal’s Jose Fonto is talking to any one who care to listen than the next Ballon d’Or should go the English premier league player of the season and Liverpool’s outstanding defender Virgil van Dijk following Liverpools stunning season despite missing out of the league trophy to Pep Guadiola team by 2 points and culminating winning the UEFA champions league after defeating Barcelona in a grand style that defies prediction.

But the question that remains on the lips of many fans is, will the award ever go to a defender or goal keeper?