Jorge Mendes Declares Lamine Yamal the Ballon d'Or Winner

Jorge Mendes has never been shy about backing his clients, but this time he went all in.

Standing by his car and surrounded by reporters, the super-agent made his stance crystal clear. As relayed by A Bola, Mendes declared: “The Ballon d'Or is for Lamine Yamal, without a doubt. The Ballon d'Or is for Lamine Yamal, he's the one who deserves it most. He is the best in the world, by a wide margin, and you know it.”

No caveats. No soft landing. Just a blunt verdict on the game’s most prestigious individual prize.

Yamal himself has hardly been hiding from that conversation. Speaking recently to Universo Valdano, the Barcelona prodigy showed the same steel-edged self-belief that has defined his rise.

“Who would I give it to? The best player in the world,” he said. “Honestly, as far as the best player in the world is concerned, maybe there are two of us, me and Mbappe. And I think I would deserve it this year because of what I've achieved.”

That’s not the language of a youngster happy just to be mentioned. That’s the language of someone who expects to sit at the top table and stay there.

The La Masia graduate doubled down, pointing straight at the evidence on the pitch rather than the noise around it. “Yes, for me it's very clear, and everyone who watches the matches knows that.”

Between an agent publicly anointing him and a player openly embracing the claim, the message is unmistakable: in their eyes, the Ballon d'Or race already has a rightful winner. The rest of the football world now has to decide whether it agrees.