Player of the Tournament: Mbappe may dominate for Les Bleus

The European Championship Player of the Tournament is usually heavily influenced by team performance, and that could be the case again at this summer’s finals in Germany.

Since the award’s inception in 1996 the prize has gone to a player from the tournament winners’ squad in six of the seven tournaments, with Antoine Griezmann’s 2016 win the anomaly in that sequence. France were runners-up on that occasion, highlighting the importance of a deep run. 

Gianluigi Donnarumma took home the prize at huge odds at Euro 2020 as his excellent goalkeeping helped Italy to the trophy, although it is extremely difficult to envisage him retaining his award.

Unlike many individual awards, such as the Ballon d’Or, the Euros Player of the Tournament is not entirely influenced by goals. Five of the winners have been midfielders, with Zinedine Zidane and Xavi on the list, while Donnarumma’s win as a keeper was also a rarity for this type of prize. 

The tendency for non-goalscorers to land the award makes for some potentially interesting outsiders for this summer’s honour. 

Although trends can be broken, Kylian Mbappe is the favourite for the award and it is easy to see why. The France forward was narrowly pipped to the Golden Ball at the 2022 World Cup by then Paris St-Germain teammate Lionel Messi and he could easily go one better this time. 

Les Bleus are one of the hot favourites for the tournament and should make a deep run, which will give Mbappe plenty of opportunities to impress on the biggest stage, as he so usually does. 

The PSG star is coming off a 44-goal season and has netted 22 times in his last 23 matches for his national team. Beyond his goals, Mbappe has grown into a leader and his ability to terrorise defences with his blistering pace and frightening dribbling will ensure he is always involved in the action if France enjoy another successful tournament. 

It is difficult to look past Mbappe as France’s most influential player and he rates a solid bet for the award, although one of his teammates could also help Les Bleus to their first Euros triumph since 2000 and makes for an interesting outside bet. 

Despite playing a more reserved midfield role these days, Griezmann is still a pivotal part of Didier Deschamps’ system, and the Atletico Madrid star could be an outsider to rival Mbappe for the award. 

The 2016 Player of the Tournament just enjoyed an excellent season with Atletico Madrid, despite the Spanish side’s troubles. Griezmann netted 22 goals - six of which came in the Champions League - and provided seven assists for Atleti. His ability as both a scorer and creator as well as his tendency to perform on the big stage make him a decent shout at a big price to become the first two-time winner of the award. 

His overall game has improved a lot since he dropped back into a more reserved role and, given the trend of midfielders landing this prize, it could pay to also back Griezmann for the Euro 2024 Player of the Tournament honour.