Ballon d’Or Power Rankings: Cole Palmer on the rise but still behind Mohamed Salah, Lamine Yamal and more

The men’s football season of 2024-25 came to his conclusion on Sunday and so it’s time to make reports that is on fire one last time while we arrange the runners and riders for the Ballon d’Or.

What has changed since our last look at the best individual artists in football, in the blurry afterglow of Paris The triumph of Saint-Germain at the final of the Champions League? Not much, really, so If you were furious about the shape of our last top six, Well, maybe you want to look away now. There has of course been one event that has been cut with hype and blusterer, Chelsea Earning the rights to call themselves the champions of the world for the next four years thereafter PSG beat in Metlife Stadium in Club World Cup Final. Add a few skirmishes to the international stage, in particular Portugal’s Win in the Nations League, and we have a few new data points to at least consider.

Will the World Cup be seriously considered for Ballon d’Il or voters? It’s just too early to say. Maybe Ousmane Dembele Had played a major role in PSG’s triumph, it could have brought him over the top, but there is a credible matter to make at least three of Europe’s best half dozen teams of last season – Barcelona” Liverpool And Arsenal – Were nowhere to be seen in this competition.

According to this column, the FIFA Jamboree is still a considerably lesser price than the Champions League. Likewise it is not nothing. The best artists earn (and, spoiler alert, received) a small bump in the ranking. That is not everything that has changed. PSG may not have won a Stateside, but their best versions were more than enough to strengthen the idea that nothing flashes in the pan Luis Enrique’s side. Moreover, you are all quite heated about the absence of a few of their best players. The CBS Sports Ballon d’Or Power Rankings can be drawn up by a committee of one, but never let it be said that they are not open to external input and/or easy rattling in the commentary section.

Exactly, let’s comment on this with the current stated opportunities:

1. Mohamed is wrongLiverpool (+2500)

What was true six weeks ago has not changed and there is really nothing that happened in the world cup in the club, it could have changed. A 34 goal, 23-assist season is supposed to be the territory of Lionel Messi And Cristiano Ronaldo In their prime. What Mohamed Salah delivered in the toughest domestic competition was remarkable and took a non -annulated Liverpool team to a Premier League title at a canter. The fact that his best work was done before spring does not change.

2. RaphinhaBarcelona (+2500)

Another with astonishingly long chances, given what they actually achieved in 2024-25, where Raphinha came from the edge of Barcelona to deliver a historic individual season in the Champions League, as well as the persistent excellence to wear them to La Liga Glory.

3. Ousmane Dembele, PSG (-500)

Could Ousmane Dembele jump to the top of our ranking after the back of what he did at the Club World Cup? It should have been something special, given that the competition still has to prove to hear at the height of football, but you could have imagined that a number of excellent versions had to endure against the tough field PSG, perhaps the problem has waved.

How Chelsea Paris Saint-Germain defeated in their own game to claim Club World Cup Glory

PARDEEP CATRY

In the end, injuries to limit Dembele’s opportunities, the 28-year-old only played three games before the last defeat. Sparkling comeor Bayern Munich And Real MadridThe latter an extensive, were a memory of his class, but PSG’s versions as a whole also spoke with what had been clear during their Champions League run. Dembele is perhaps the best player in the best team, but what makes Parisians The sum of the parts is so special, not a single person.

4. Khvicha kvaratskheliaPSG (+4000)

Deep inside, I think this can be a smidge too high for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who won two from Europe’s top five competition titles and a Champions League. The rough output was not entirely at the level of the attackers above and below him, but the heart wants what it wants. And nobody in this season was as exciting, creative and ridiculously exciting as the man they call Kvaradona.

5. PedriBarcelona (+5000)

If you happen to miss last season, here is everything you need to know about Pedri. He was the same brilliant Ball Progressor that you have always known, it is just that version 2.0 of the Spaniard has added the almighty ball -winning pork chops, who is probably currently setting himself the most complete midfielder in the sport.

6. Lamine YamalBarcelona (+400)

The only call that brought the most pelters last month was probably Lamine Yamal rank outside the top five, which reflects the two schools of Ballon d’Or -MARRATION, as well as everything. For some, the winner should be the man who took the stage in the largest games of the season and delivered the moments of the season. In that sense, Yamal, the star of the semi -final of the Champions League, even in defeat and Now with a new contractHad a good season as someone who is not called Dembele.

That assessment of the balloon d’Or is completely valid, but in general this column will stick to the aggregated image, and there Yamal was simply not entirely to the level of Salah, Raphinha and Dembele. Not yet, at least. It seems a matter of when, not if, with him.

7. Achraf HakimiPSG (+2800)

If the man under him in this ranking is the engine that makes PSG function at the highest level, Achraf Hakimi is the tires that cover the garden after the garden without any sign of wear. Hakimi was perhaps the best player on his side at the club of Club, especially exceptional in the victories over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, even without scoring.

8. VitinhaPSG (+1000)

Another who excelled in Club’s World Cup, but what Vitinha really sent from 11th of 11th (on which you have to trust me) to eighth was his excellence against Spain In the Nations League final. It is quite something to look like the best midfielder in the park when the other boys are Pedri and Martin BrightBut such excellence has been the norm for the Portugal International.

9. Gianluigi DonnarummaPSG (+5000)

A whose absence brought all kinds of Opprobrium to my Instagram reports, Gianluigi Donnarumma probably earned a top 10 spot about people like Harry Kane And maybe even Virgil van Dijk. First an explanation for his first absence. In general, goalkeepers at real elite level do not have much to do; It can even be difficult to say if they have had an objective superior season for the active shot stopper for one side in the bottom half of the table.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that Donnarumma was exceptional in some of the largest matches of the PSG season, which at the times that best proves their value. This also took place for the most part of the World Cup club, five saves that help to take the European champions along Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.

10. Cole PalmerChelsea (+2000)

First a word about the trio that came out. Not much has happened to Virgil van Dijk and Harry Kane, others just jump, but the Kylian Mbappe business is perhaps the most interesting. He scored a lot of goals last season, 44 towards the end of the year one in real Madrid, but the club World Cup did not suppress the feeling that his new team is not that much better because he has him. Gastway obstructed his ability to be his best, but his display against PSG invited some unflattering questions.

You couldn’t say that about Cole Palmer, excellent in Chelsea’s 3-0 triumph in Metlife Stadium. Had the England International kept his domestic form in the second half of this season, he would have been on this list before the club World Cup, but that competition offered a healthy memory of his growing greatness.