MBAPPE NOT READY TO WIN BALLON D’ORNYET -EDMILSON SAYS PSG STAR CANT MATCH MESSI AND RONALDO
The French international has enjoyed another superb year in Paris, but the Brazilian feels he is still too young to be considered as the world’s best
Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe is not ready to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as a Ballon d’Or winner just yet, according to Edmilson Moares.
The 20-year-old finished fourth in the voting for the 2018 edition of the coveted individual award, behind Antoine Griezmann, Ronaldo and eventual winner Luka Modric.
Mbappe became a World Cup winner with France in Russia last year, shortly after completing an impressive debut campaign at the Parc des Princes.
He has kicked on with extra vigour this season, scoring 32 goals in 36 matches across all competitions for PSG, who are on course for yet another domestic double come May .
Unfortunately, their year is likely to be defined by a last-16 Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester United, but Mbappe’s stock still continues to rise with each passing game.
Ligue 1 ambassador Edmilson – who was speaking after watching Strasbourg win the Coupe de la Ligue final on penalties against Guingamp last weekend – feels that it is too early for PSG’s star youngster to be compared with the modern-day greats.
When asked if Mbappe could win this year’s Ballon d’Or, he responded: “No, because of his age.
“He can do great things but Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been doing it consistently for the past 10 years, it is unbelievable.
“You can’t do this kind of comparison today, it is not logical.”
Edmilson did, however, concede that the France international is the best player in Ligue 1 at the moment, even ahead of his PSG team-mate Neymar.
“Today, it is (Kylian) Mbappe,” he added. “He is a world champion, young, fast, playing at a very good level by scoring a lot of goals.
“Thanks to the quality of the players such as Neymar, Cavani, Fekir, Memphis, Ligue 1 can now dream about having good days, which was not always the case before.”
Neymar’s season at PSG was cut short for the second consecutive year after he sustained metatarsal damage in January, which has forced him to sit out the last few months of action.
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The Brazilian still harbours ambitions of becoming the world’s greatest player and Edmilson thinks he is capable of achieving that goal, but only if he can overcome his fitness issues.
“Before thinking about the Ballon d’Or, Neymar has to come back, play, score and give good performances,” Edmilson continued. “If he’s doing that, he can be among the best players in the world. Questions linking Neymar and the Ballon d’Or do not help him, PSG or Brazil.
“The most important thing is that Neymar does a complete season with PSG.”
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