Three goals in two games. Kylian Mbappé knows exactly what he's doing, and it goes well beyond beating Real Sociedad.
The October 27 Ballon d'Or ceremony — moving to London this year — is already shaping decisions on and off the pitch. With no dominant favorite and voting influenced by 100 journalists worldwide, the start of this season carries more weight than a typical August. Mbappé knows that, and his performances so far suggest he's treating these early fixtures as a campaign, not a warm-up.
58 goals and still no major trophy to show for it
Last season, Mbappé scored 58 goals — 42 in 44 games for Real Madrid, another 16 for France including the Golden Boot at the World Cup. Numbers that would define most careers, let alone a single season. And yet the big prizes kept slipping away. Spain ended France's World Cup. Club trophies didn't follow either. The volume was there. The silverware wasn't.
That's the paradox that has followed him into this campaign. For all the goals, the Ballon d'Or has felt just out of reach — partly because trophies still carry enormous weight with voters, even without a fixed criterion telling them what to prioritize. Champions League? World Cup? Full-season output? It varies by journalist, which is precisely why Mbappé needs everything to go right, not just his own numbers.
This is where the shift at Real Madrid becomes relevant. José Mourinho has reportedly rebuilt the locker room around unity — old tensions dissolved, collective buy-in restored. Mbappé himself has acknowledged he needs the team to keep scoring at this rate. That's not humility for the cameras. It's tactical realism from a forward who has seen what happens when Madrid's machinery isn't running smoothly.
The competition for the award is genuinely open
The shortlist of realistic contenders includes Rodri, Harry Kane, Fabián Ruiz, and Lamine Yamal — none of whom are obvious runaway favorites either. Ousmane Dembélé won it last year; whether he retains it appears unlikely given the competition. France Football will reveal its 30 nominees shortly, and from that point on, every result matters.
One useful historical reference: the World Cup winner doesn't automatically take the Ballon d'Or. 2010 showed that. Spain won the tournament, but the award went elsewhere. So a World Cup triumph — even one that denied Mbappé — doesn't automatically crown the winner of this race.
What does matter is sustained relevance right now, at the start of the season, when journalists are forming impressions. Mbappé has already put three goals on the board. The next few weeks will tell the rest of the story — for him and for anyone tracking his odds to finally land the one individual prize that has eluded him.
