Ballon d’Or: Henry makes U-turn, snubs Chelsea players and others

Former Arsenal star Thiery Henry has made a U-turn on his statement on the player that deserves to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or this year.

The Frenchman a few weeks ago had tipped Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema or Chelsea’s N’ Golo Kante to win the Ballon d’Or this year ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea’s Jorginho.

However, Henry, in a latest statement, has picked Messi to win the Ballon d’ Or this year ahead of Benzema and Kante.

According to Henry, Messi won the Copa America this year with Argentina and as such deserves to win.

“I cannot say it like that because I will always say that a French guy should win it [Ballon d’ Or] because I’m biased and I would have loved Benzema to win it,” Henry told CBS.

But in reality, Lionel Messi will, I think, because of his finally winning the Copa America with Argentina.”

Henry added, “Let’s be realistic, I hope it can be him [Karim Benzema] or N’Golo Kante. Robert Lewandowski would have been elected in 2020 if it had not been cancelled.

“We can also talk about Jorginho because he won everything [Champions League and Euro 2020]. And there is Leo [Messi] who finally won the Copa America.”