Tactically, I’ll tell you why Harry Winks is right, and I don’t even need a flat pitch for this.
Harry Kane has been voted 2026 Ballon d’Or. There had been communication campaigns for Kylian Mbappé and for Lamine Yamal. Kane wins. And his former Tottenham teammate Harry Winks, now at Cagliari, says in La Gazzetta dello Sport: “The best I’ve played with? Mousa Dembélé!” A midfielder. A Red Devil.
I read it on Walfoot, with a mug of coffee at the clubhouse bar, and I opened my folder at the midfielders’ page. At my place, it’s the most scribbled-on page. The striker, everyone sees him, he’s up front, he raises his arms. The midfielder, nobody sees him except the one playing next to him. Winks played next to him.
My best player isn’t the one who scores. It’s the one who keeps the ball when pitch 2 slopes down towards the bar and the wind is pushing the same way. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is.
Walfoot adds a caveat, and I respect that. According to them, Mousa Dembélé never really got to play for a club fighting for trophies. And he never really performed at the same level for the national team as for his clubs. Noted. But a teammate doesn’t read a trophy list, he remembers a ball that was given back to him clean.
A player who praises another player without a communication campaign. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing.
For the collective, I did one thing on Sunday. Instead of man of the match, I asked everyone for the best player they had played alongside. Three named the club delegate. He doesn’t play. But he had remembered the player cards.
It’s true, we checked: Walfoot.
