Lautaro Martinez for Ballon d’Or: An Argument for the underrated Inter captain

While being far from a household name, Lautaro Martinez is setting club and personal records through consistency and growth into an elite player. Wayne Girard argues he should be awarded football’s greatest individual honour…

Cole Palmer, the revelation of English football, scored 22 goals this past season – second only to Erling Haaland. Jude Bellingham, a Ballon d’Or contestant, had three less than him and equal to Robert Lewandowski. Dušan Vlahović had the second most in Serie A, trailing the leader by eight goals. These are some of the most popular names in world football, with a large social media presence and marketability based on club stature and familiarity. But one other thing they all have in common with one another, barring Bellingham, is that none of them won anything remarkable this past season for club or country. 

In fact, they all trail another forward who has broken 20 goals for every season since 2021. He’s one who scores title-deciding goals after 112 minutes of play and even won the last World Cup. Listen closely to the whispers in Milan‘s Metro, and they’ll be mentioning his name for that Ballon d’Or trophy as well. That is, of course, Inter‘s underrated superstar, Lautaro Martinez.

With that last-gasp goal on Sunday night, Argentina galvanised their best era of all time to become back-to-back winners of the Copa America (he scored the match-winning penalty in the semi-final shootout against Colombia in 2021, too). Lautaro’s role was quite interesting, coming on in the last 25 minutes for all of two matches, one in which he started and the other as an early substitution. He was then able to torment tired legs, resulting in an 88th-minute goal to win 1-0 over Chile, pressing and winning the ball back in the opposition’s defensive third from the group stage all the way until the final.

Scaloni admits Lautaro Martinez ‘not happy’ with him while Inter send message to Argentina hero

The war in Miami perfectly demonstrated the quality and instinct in his play. As he checked to Leandro Paredes and received the ball, Martinez used his skilful dribbling to evade the pressing defender, playing back to Rodrigo De Paul, who had the field of view and then received the one-two off of Giovani Lo Celso to blast the shot past Camilo Vargas, lighting the match for Argentina to erupt in elation. Winning the tournament’s Golden Boot award with five goals was an outrageous feat considering he was almost always a substitute.

With 66 goals over the past three years, he’s one of just five players in the last 65 years to score over 20 goals in three consecutive seasons. Keep in mind that Inter have ‘given’ him a different striking partner in each of those three, from Edin Džeko to Romelu Lukaku and now Marcus Thuram. This year’s Capocannoniere, Lautaro, has evolved from a supporting No.10 into a clinical finisher who decides matches on his own. 

Now club captain Martinez has just set his personal goal-scoring record. Finishing the majority of his goals coming from the centre of the keeper’s box or just above it, Martinez has a sixth sense of where the ball will land. Whether supplied by a teammate or off a deflection, El Toro attacks the ball, bucking for it like a bull at a rodeo. 

And there is no discretion to his opposition, small and big clubs alike. This year alone, he scored against Fiorentina, Napoli, Lazio, Juventus, Atalanta, and Bologna, and he got an assist against Milan as well.

But what’s most sensational about him being the league’s top scorer, is he’s also the forward with the most interceptions (20) and is in the 97th percentile for possession won in the final third. Not only is he the keepers’ worst nightmare, but his teamplay is also absolutely remarkable as he hounds defenders off the counter-press and takes the pressure off the rest of the nine field players.

Lautaro Martinez is the complete package, and has won just about everything in football at a young age, while proving consistency, maturity, leadership, and deadliness. He should be not only considered for the Ballon d’Or, but praised with the most beautiful individual accolade.