Milan are the only team to have two nominees, but the identity of the winner is already pretty clear.
The Rossoneri are one of the youngest teams in Europe and there are many up and coming talents in the Milan squad.
The two most prominent under 21 players in the squad of Gattuso at the moment are without a doubt Gianluigi Donnarumma (19) and Patrick Cutrone (20).
Donnarumma broke into the scene at 16 under Siniša Mihajlović and has since then made 132 appearances in the goalkeeper jersey of Milan. Donnarumma has had a very frustrating start to the season as he’s failed to keep a clean sheet in all the seven Serie A games Milan have played so far, and has already conceded 10 goals.
Cutrone’s first full season meanwhile was last year and despite having no first team experience, he managed to score 18 goals in all competitions. Patrick continues to be important even with the arrival of Gonzalo Higuain as he manages to change games when he comes off the bench.
Today it was announced that the two are included in France Football’s 10-man shortlist for the 2018 Trophée Kopa, which is a new trophy that is the Ballon d’Or for the under 21 players. Milan are the only team to have two nominees on the shortlist but it seems very clear that the winner of the trophy will be the 2018 World Cup winner and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé.
The nominees are: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/England), Houssem Aouar (Lyon/France), Patrick Cutrone (Milan/Italy), Ritsu Doan (Groningen/Japan), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan/Italy), Amadou Haidara (Red Bull Salzburg/Mali), Justin Kluivert (AS Roma/Holland), Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund/USA), and Rodrygo (Santos/Brazil).
The winner will be announced on December 3rd and he will be chosen by a panel consisting of every single former Ballon d’Or winner who is still alive: Luis Suarez (1960), Denis Law (1964), Bobby Charlton (1966), Gianni Rivera (1969), Gerd Müller (1970), Franz Beckenbauer (1972, 1976), Oleg Blokhine (1975), Allan Simonsen (1977), Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980, 1981), Paolo Rossi (1982), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Igor Belanov (1986), Ruud Gullit (1987), Marco Van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992), Lothar Matthäus (1990), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), Roberto Baggio (1993), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), George Weah (1995), Matthias Sammer (1996), Ronaldo (1997, 2002), Zinédine Zidane (1998), Rivaldo (1999), Luis Figo (2000), Michael Owen (2001), Pavel Nedved (2003), Andriy Shevchenko (2004), Ronaldinho (2005), Fabio Cannavaro (2006), Kaka (2007), Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) and Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015).
And some here say Donnarumma should be benched lmao a 19 yo with over 130 Serie A appearances, of course he still raw, but there is huge rooms from improvement, he needs every second of playtime possible. I saw a long ball to the left midfield that got me impress, Let me Donna haters that he benched Diego Lopez
He should be sold not benched. There were players who’re much more talented than donna the sinner like best, gazza, cassano, balo etc who never realized their potentials because of their lack of character. No 18 yr old should do what donna did to milan, certainly not just for few $ more, thats akin to biting the hands that feed u. Its not like he’s next buffon who’ll be hard to replace, i saw young buffon In ‘97 and donna is nothing like him. I mean look at courtois who nagged like a baby all season long last year bcause… Read more »
I think you don’t understand the modern economy in the world of football. Where there is a lot of money, there are a lot of interests. And many people try to get deals. So the most time of transfer windows, someone try to arrange something and that one mostly is not the player himself. What did Gigio wrong? He let Raiola do his job? Should he have part ways with him because of that? Should he have stand up and say ‘no, i don’t want a better deal – no one should have interest in me – i am unsellable’?… Read more »
He’s Judas period
This is really a source of pride. Obviously Mbappé should and will probably win it, but this is a great start for us, and hopefully within a near future we’ll have players – perhaps the same duo – in the shortlist for the Ballon d’or as well:)
Just look at all the former Milan winners? We must be the club with the most?
It’s a shame Maldini and Baresi never won it.
Congrats cutrone and donna for the nominations. Now if milan can get pulisic theyre gonna be much more well equiped to play with 4-3-3. Hell, like i said, just raid dortmund’s squad and buy weigl, pulisic, reus, dahoud and witsel. Surely they cant do worse than berto and borini
Great news, but most football recognition award system lost some meaning when the whole Ronaldo Messi ‘era’ started. So many great players and talents overlooked and unrecognized.
Overlooked by Messi and Ronaldo for good reason. You can say for Ronaldo that he has some ups and downs with more ups of course. He has his domination moments and he deserved everything. But Messi, there is no player in the World , even now that can be compared to him. Fact that he is not even among top 3 players is hilarious. I was covering my head in shame when Mbaye Niang said that he is going to be better than Messi. I am hardcore Milan fan but if we talk about GOAT in football, that will go… Read more »
Agreed. I can only think of that Sneijder should’ve won it when Inter won the treble, and perhaps one from Munich when they won the treble, Ribery, Robben, Lahm or Neuer. Other than that, both Messi and Ronaldo have been warranted their Ballon d’or. The exception this year would probably be Modric due to him being instrumental in Madrid winning UCL + Croatias world cup push. But then if you look at Madrid’s current shape – I know the season’s barely started – and the fact that they haven’t had a goal drought like this since 1985 then it’s clear… Read more »
Yes Sneijder was pretty close and Modric like Sneijder then was a beast last season. But when we talk about best player, individually.. Messi is still couple of levels higher than any of those world class players I would say. So even if he win it this year(which he won’t) nobody can say that he didn’t deserve it.
As for Kaka’s goal at Old Trafford, I am going to remember it my whole life 🙂 that goal is just a beautiful mix of skill, talent and high IQ. Kaka will be remebered as one of the best in history.
I went to vote and after 32000 votes cutrone has 72% of votes while mbappe has 15%!!!
We don’t vote for the winner. The winner is picked by the 33 previous ballon dor winners. The vote might say that Cutrone is a fan favourite, but at the end of the day, the fans don’t get to pick the winner.