Aitana Bonmati’s Ballon d’Or win was never in doubt – but what comes next?

If the Women’s Ballon d’Or were a cup final, the cameras would have cut to a shot of the engraver etching Aitana Bonmati’s name on the trophy weeks ago.

Bonmati’s accession to the throne at the very top of women’s football, vacated by her Barcelona and Spain team-mate Alexia Putellas, has been as predictable as any kind of hereditary monarchy.

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The 25-year-old midfielder has swept the board when it comes to trophies and individual awards: the World Cup, Liga F, the UEFA Women’s Champions League, UEFA player of the year, Champions League player of the season, the World Cup Golden Ball. There was no question of her deserving to win the biggest individual prize of all, but there is one as to whether this was the start of an era of dominance or just a flash in the pan.

On the one hand, Bonmati is the youngest winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or since Ada Hegerberg won as a 23-year-old in 2018. On the other, the role she has been able to play this season has been hugely influenced by the absence of previous two-time winner Putellas. 

The ACL injury Putellas suffered in July 2022 gave Bonmati an opportunity to step into the limelight. Putellas has been rightly heralded as the star of Barcelona and Spain but, with her unavailable, there was an opportunity for other players. It was an opportunity that Bonmati seized with both hands.

With Putellas not in her traditional left-sided No 10 position, Bonmati was pushed slightly higher up the pitch, still anchoring the right-hand side of Barcelona’s midfield but closer to the penalty area, with Patricia Guijarro taking the left-hand No 8 role and Keira Walsh as the pivot. Even on the pitch, she was stepping almost directly into Putellas’ shoes.

It is not that Bonmati is an understated player, but there is something stealthy about how she approaches the game. The way she can drift in and out of a match is almost snakelike, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. This is not a player who always imposes herself on a game — as was seen at this summer’s World Cup when, at points, she faded into the background before springing into life. Take Spain’s round-of-16 match against Switzerland, in which she got two goals and two assists. 

“Touching or not touching the ball doesn’t depend 100 per cent on me,” Bonmati explained when speaking exclusively to The Athletic before the World Cup final. “There are times when I move around waiting to look for my position to see if I get the ball, and it depends a lot on the team’s sensations.”

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“It doesn’t have to do with people or who plays next to me but more on the dynamics of the team in each game. There are times when the game happens more on the left flank than on the right and those of us who play there have less prominence.”

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This comment is typical of a player whose hard-nosed determination to be the best is combined with the tactical rigours of the Barcelona system she has grown up in.

The reality is that, at 25 years old, we could only be seeing the very start of Bonmati’s ability. For example, despite playing in a more advanced role last season, she finished with 19 goals at club level, just one more than she achieved in 2021-22. That is still a way off the mammoth goalscoring totals Putellas had put up in the seasons before she was injured — scoring 27 followed by 34. But when Putellas was Bonmati’s age, their numbers were very similar. It feels like there is more to come.

That is a thrilling thought for fans of Spain, Barcelona or, simply, very good football. Bonmati’s victory continues an incredible three years for Spanish women’s football. For the first two editions of the Women’s Ballon d’Or, not a single Spanish player was even nominated. Now they have won the past three. That has happened alongside Barcelona reaching the past three UWCL finals, winning two of them, and, of course, Spain’s World Cup win this summer. 

The role of Barcelona in Putellas, Bonmati and Spain’s success cannot be ignored. In an era in which the financial struggles of the club have been public to all, the women’s team has continued to do exactly what Barcelona is known for globally: raising talented players in a style of football that dominates all over the world.

The Spanish national team is not Barcelona on the international stage, but the club’s role in player development has allowed it to reach the heights it managed in August. There have been tensions as a result — the three players who have still refused to return to the national side (Guijarro, Mapi Leon and Claudia Pina) are all Barcelona players albeit not all La Masia products — but the success of the two teams remains inextricably linked.

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What comes next for Bonmati will be fascinating. In Putellas’ absence, she has firmly demonstrated that she is her own player. And it is notable that, even with Putellas’ return to the Barcelona team, Bonmati has stayed where she played last season. Manager Jonatan Giraldez has instead pushed Putellas up to play as a striker in order to preserve his midfield. 

While Putellas’ absence was the opportunity Bonmati needed to step up, what is for sure is that Bonmati is no understudy. This Ballon d’Or is a justified recognition of her year of excellence — but it is far from being the culmination of that excellence. 

(Top photo: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)