Andy Gray on Rooney and the Ballon d'Or
Every week, Betfair Football's star tipster Andy Gray picks out and answers his favourite question out of those he is asked on Twitter and Facebook. Here's his answer to this week's poser...
"Was Wayne Rooney unlucky to miss out on the Ballon d'Or shortlist?" - @Dandaman5891 and @JamesRobsonMEN
Yes, I think he was very unlucky. Wayne Rooney had an outstanding season last year, scoring freely for both club and country in every competition he played for. He picked up an injury towards the end of the season which ruled him out of the last few matches and had a pretty dismal World Cup by his own admission, but I still don't think that alone should have meant he got the snub.
Especially when you consider that the likes of Asamoah Gyan made the shortlist. I've got nothing against the Sunderland and Ghana striker but he scored just 13 league goals last season in a league most would consider to be weaker than the Premier League. Okay, he had a fine World Cup and was the star in Ghana's impressive campaign but a better season than Rooney? Not for my money...
Of course there's always a lot going on behind the scenes of this voting process that we don't know about. Whereas I think the winner is almost always the right choice, I can't say the list of nominees is always one I agree on.
It could be a case of tactical voting going on or it could be that for whatever reason those who vote decided to give English players a little bit of a slap in the face this time round and ignore the claims of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and John Terry. The latter also had a good season, leading Chelsea to a domestic double and not missing too many matches so I can't imagine he was best pleased either when the shortlist was announced.
Who should get it then? Well anyone from the Barcelona trio of David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta would be a worthy winner but personally I'd pick Wesley Sneijder who was the brains (on the field at least!) of Inter's treble last season. Added to that, he had a fine World Cup for the runners-up and saved some of his best performances for the biggest games. Wesley, take a bow son...
Do you agree with Andy? Let him know what you think by following him on Twitter
Published: 29 Oct 2010
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