For this column, there shouldn't be an argument. Mbappe is the best of this generation. No other talent, consistently, can lay a glove on him. The past winners, Rodri and Ousmane Dembele, are fine players. His former PSG teammate, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, another deservedly ranked in the same bracket. But c'mon, when we talk about the best in the world, it's Mbappe and then daylight.
So why the doubt? Why the push-back? Perhaps it's this new claim of candidates from winning teams only being worthy contenders. A claim which should be regarded as ridiculous. It wasn't the criteria when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were swapping places on the dais these past 15 years - and the same shouldn't apply to today and Kylian Mbappe.
But it is something Lamine Yamal and his entourage are desperately clinging to as the Barcelona teen attempts to champion his case through the press. But even if he finished the season with World Cup and LaLiga winner's medals, he was hardly the main protagonist in either campaign. The experts at the World Cup said as much by not only naming his new Barca teammate Rodri as the best of the tournament, but also voting another Blaugrana, Pau Cubarsi, as the young player of the competition. And when you consider the Barca dressing room, again like Spain, Yamal wouldn't be considered the best, that moniker would go to Raphinha or - if he can get himself injury-free - Pedri.
Yet it appears, at least from Spain, that Yamal is worthy of this year's Ballon d'Or. He's certainly talked himself into believing so. This ego of his is amazing - and clearly encouraged by all those around him. This includes his Spain and Barca teammates. But no genuine football man can actually claim that Yamal is the best player today on the planet. Not even close. There's potential, sure. Promise. But that's it. Yet somehow his candidacy is more worthy than Mbappe's? Give us a break.
If we consider the two contenders, beyond all the spin and hype, you can judge the superior talent by expectation. For Yamal, there's next-to-no demands on him. Not from Barca, nor Spain, nor the press. Pundits also give him a free ride. Yamal, at 19, has never been criticised for failing to dominate a game. For falling short. For failing to dig in and drag Barca or Spain through a tight contest. That's never been demanded of him - and he's never actually managed to do it himself. Yamal is the entertainer. The attacking talent capable of exploiting a weaker defence or fullback. He's the cherry on top of a very good Barca or Spain team. But as we say, he's never the fulcrum, the protagonist.
In contrast, Mbappe has been living with such expectations since before the age of Yamal today. And it only increases year-upon-year. Christophe Dugarry, the former Barca and France striker, epitomised the demands placed on Mbappe in his home country just last week.
"He will have to wake up, Mbappé," Dugarry declared on RMC. "He scores goals, there's no problem with that, but he doesn't win any more competitions. With Real Madrid, he no longer wins. With the team of France, he doesn't win anymore. After a while, he will be forced to win competitions.
"And Zizou (Zinedine Zidane) will have the same talk with Mbappé: 'do you want us to win or just score your goals and show off?' After a while, the subject will be there. We haven't earned anything for years."
No-one inside Spanish football makes the same demands of Yamal. That's expectation. That's status. And that's why Mbappe is the best in the world. People are always demanding more from him. They expect more - even, as Dugarry admits, as he sets goalscoring records for Real Madrid.
And, unlike Yamal, he'll get chopped up by his local press. Just consider the kerfuffle over his comments about France teammate Ousmane Dembele last week. With the Ballon d'Or jockeying at it's height, Mbappe's comments were framed in France and Spain as a slight against last year's winner.
"Dembélé? He has always been seen as a talented player, while I have always been considered the chosen one," declared Mbappe, with the quotes reported across the globe.
Yes, it reads poorly - especially when Mbappe's follow up words are cut out.
âI have always been seen as the chosen one. I was right on top, very early. He had a different journey, injuries, but he made up for it."
There's your context and for this column the words read like a player paying tribute to a teammate who has had show extra grit and determination to reach the very top of the game. That's a compliment, a huge compliment. And when he claims he was "the chosen one", Mbappe is talking about the media, the hype around him and the different path he took compared to Dembele.
But this is what confronts Mbappe almost daily. Just consider Jerome Rothen's furious attack on his fellow former PSG player regarding the Ballon d'Or.
"I don't know if you really realise it, do you realise that right now he's trying to buy votes for the Ballon d'Or... to get that f****** Ballon d'Or?" Rothen said on RMC.
"If Mbappé wins the Ballon d'Or, to start with I think it's a farce, but we'll all be clear about it.
"Here we're talking about football, but it's not just former players who come out. Sometimes we talk among ourselves. We all think the same about him, and not just players of little importance, but the big ones think the same about him too."
Again, demands and expectation. If the French media and ex-players treated Mbappe as their equivalents do Lamine Yamal in Spain then there'd be no need for him to talk up his prospects. But he has to do so because of such criticism and media manipulation.
From our angle at Football Presse, we've never experienced the claims we see in the French media. Quite the opposite. Speaking with Bruno Baltazar about his time as Cannes coach under Mbappe and his management team, the Portuguese had only good things to say, even when results turned sour.
And for Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen, like us, there really is no argument to make against Mbappe being the best on the planet.
"Yes, I do think he is the best player in the world," Owen told recently Football Presse. "You look at what Mbappe has delivered on the world stage for France in the past few World Cups. He delivers domestically, in the Champions League."
To give the likes of Rothen the benefit of the doubt, this frustration comes from French football demanding more and more from their one generational talent. They know what they have. They've seen Mbappe come through since he was 16 years of age at AS Monaco. And they were banking on him to carry the game in France for the next 10-15 years.
That's why Yamal, in terms of this year's Ballon d'Or, couldn't lace Mbappe's boots. No-one in Spain makes demands of Yamal like they do Mbappe in France. Why? Because they don't expect it from him. There's no belief that he can lead a team or dominate a game like Mbappe. Indeed, for this column, no player has produced an individual performance in a World Cup final in modern times as Mbappe did in Qatar against Argentina. That's the stuff of legends. Of greats. And it's something Yamal has not come close to realising.
Yes, Mbappe finished last season trophyless. But that shouldn't take away from what he is as a player. Kylian Mbappe is the best of this generation. There can be no arguing against that. And it's time the game recognised this and awarded him the Ballon d'Or for 2026.