Arsenal star sold for £20m just finished above Saka in the Ballon d’Or
The footballing world descended on France for everyone’s favourite popularity contest on Sunday night, the Ballon d’Or, an award yet to be won by any Arsenal player, not even the great Thierry Henry.
Yes, a year after Lionel Messi won his eighth award, it was someone else’s turn to be crowned as the best player in the world.
This time, it was Manchester City’s Rodri, after he enjoyed yet another stellar 12 months that saw him lift the Premier League title and win Spain their fourth European Championship.
However, while the attention is firmly on the victorious Spaniard, there were another 29 players ranked by the voting journalists, including four Arsenal players and one former Gunner who was sold by Mikel Arteta early on in his stint at the club.
Arsenal’s Ballon d’Or nominated stars
The first Arsenal name lands in 26th place and is the indomitable Declan Rice, who has been an integral part of Arteta’s side since making his £105m switch to the Emirates last summer.
Since then, the Englishman has made 63 appearances for the club, scored eight goals, provided 12 assists, was named in the PFA Team of the Year and finished runner-up in the Gunners’ Player of the Season Award – not bad for a debut campaign.
William Saliba finished in 24th place, which some may see as relatively low for a player who made 50 appearances for the best defence in the Premier League last season.
We move down to 21st to get to arguably the North Londoners’ most important player and unquestionably the poster boy of this iteration of the team: Bukayo Saka.
The 42-capped international enjoyed his best campaign to date last season, racking up a frankly ridiculous haul of 20 goals and 14 assists in 47 appearances, meaning that he maintained a freakish average of a goal involvement once every 1.38 games for the league runners-up.
The 23-year-old phenom has continued that incredible form into this season and, in just 11 matches, has already scored four goals and provided seven assists, making it feel like he should have been ranked far higher on this list.
Finally, the highest-placed Arsenal player in this year’s Ballon d’Or list is club captain Martin Odegaard, who chalked up a tally of 22 goals and assists and was named the club’s Player of the Season for 23/24.
However, there are a couple of former Gooners on the list as well, including one who was ranked higher than the four aforementioned stars and was sold by Arteta four years ago.
