Former France striker Louis Saha has made his pick between Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane to win the Golden Ball at the upcoming Euro 2024. Among the trio, only Ronaldo has achieved the feat in the competition.
The 39-year-old did so at Euro 2020 three years ago, scoring five times in four games as defending champions Portugal crashed out in the Round of 16. Among the trio, he's also the only one to win the competition (2016). Kane's England reached the final at Euro 2020 but lost to Italy on penalties.
All three players are coming off prolific club campaigns, with Ronaldo netting 50 times across competitions for Al-Nassr followed by Mbappe (44) and Kane (44). However, in an interview with OLBG, Saha reckons Mbappe could win the Golden Boot, explaining:
“Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Cristiano could be around there, when they see a good competition to shine they always perform, and they have great squads around them.
“Kylian is going to be motivated because he has personal ambition. This kind of accolade is something that he's really looking forward to because he wants to win the Ballon d' Or or any trophy out there. So I do think that Kylian is my favourite again.”
While Ronaldo and Mbappe have won silverware with their respective national team, Kane is yet to do so.
How have Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane fared at the Euros?
Cristiano Ronaldo comfortably leads Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane in the all-time European Championship goalscoring charts. While Ronaldo (14) is the competition's all-time top scorer, Kane has scored four times, but Mbappe is yet to open his account.
In fact, Ronaldo holds a slew of records in the Euros. He's also the competition's record scorer in qualifying and the only one to appear and score in five editions of the Euros. The 39-year-old is chasing a slew of records in the upcoming edition in Germany.
Kane has four goals in 11 games in the Euro finals across two editions; Ronaldo has 14 in 25 outings. Meanwhile Mbappe is scoreless in 390 minutes across four games as France crashed out in the Round of 16 three years ago following a shootout defeat to Switzerland.