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Are Real Madrid superstars Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior hurting each other's Ballon d'Or hopes?
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Published 23/09/2025 at 12:59 GMT+1
Real Madrid have two of the best players in the world in Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior - but could they actually end up hurting each other's Ballon d'Or chances in the future? Former Madrid great Steve McManaman certainly thinks so, but says there is no reason for Los Blancos fans to be concerned about the Brazilian's playing time this season or that he hasn't signed a new contract yet.
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With the crowning of Ousmane Dembele as the men's Ballon d'Or winner, it means that Real Madrid have now gone three straight years without their players winning the award.
For a club like Madrid, this is not acceptable. Their stars have won this award 12 times, sitting level with arch-rivals Barcelona at the top of those standings.
So much of the club's identity is built around winning UEFA Champions League titles and Ballon d'Or awards.
The club had two players in the top 20 in 2025, with Kylian Mbappe in eighth and Vinicius Junior in 16th. Jude Bellingham finished 23rd.
However, many Real Madrid fans have wondered whether the pair might actually be blocking each other's path to the award, and it's a view that former Los Blancos great Steve McManaman shares.
"I think that’s definitely going to happen - I think it’s happening already," McManaman told TNT Sports. "Not in votes, particularly, but in trying to fit them in the same team and share the goals out.
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"You can clearly see Kylian’s going to take all the goals, isn’t he? He takes the penalties as well now, he’s already had a few this year. They’re definitely going to split the goals, and ergo split votes in the future.
"If you look at last year as the template, Mbappe scored 42 goals and Vini got 20, which was a stark difference to the year before. And already this season Kylian's miles ahead, so Vini won’t catch up unless there’s an injury to Kylian.
"But this year, if they carry on in the same vein and with Kylian taking the penalties, he will always be the standout goalscorer, so Kylian will warrant more headlines.
"Of course, the people who vote aren’t watching every game that these players play, so it’s merely headlines and what they win - and Kylian will always get more headlines than Vini because of the goals, you can see that this year."
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No concern over Vinicius' minutes and contract
The other concern that fans have had is Vinicius seeing his playing time dramatically reduced as new manager Xabi Alonso tries to figure out the best way to balance his two superstars.
McManaman isn't worried this early in the season and believes that when the big games come, the pair will play together.
"I don’t think it’s an issue at the moment because everyone’s getting rotated to a certain extent," he added.
"People in England made a huge deal about Trent [Alexander-Arnold] not playing but most people have been rotating, because the teams that Real Madrid have played at the start of the season were not particularly strong, so everybody’s been given a go.
"I reckon when the big games come round, we’ll see Vini and Kylian playing together. I don’t think that’ll be an issue - I think they’ll both play.
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"If push came to shove and it was the final tomorrow, I think they’d both play with Vini left, Kylian through the middle and maybe [Franco] Mastantuono on the right. Unfortunately, it’d be Rodrgyo who misses out."
And whilst all this is playing out with Vinicius, the Brazilian is nearing the final 18 months of his contract.
It was reported before the start of the season that contract negotiations would be put on hold until the end of the current campaign.
But McManaman is not worried about a potential departure. "No I don’t [think he will leave], no.
"I don’t think we’re looking realistically at a situation where he leaves Real Madrid to go to Saudi Arabia as that’s the only place that could afford him.
"He’s very well remunerated, I don’t think he wants for money, and once you’re well-respected at Real Madrid, it’s a brilliant club to be at, a brilliant city to live in and I wouldn’t have thought there’d be an issue at all. I think he’ll sign.
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"You’ve seen in the last 10 or 15 years, the best players don’t leave Madrid, they get looked after so well that it takes something extraordinary for them to move.
"I’d be very surprised if he left, unless something happens internally that we don’t know about."
McManaman also added that he felt it was "completely different" to the scenario that saw Neymar leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record deal.
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