Jorge Mendes Declares Lamine Yamal the Ballon d'Or Winner

Jorge Mendes rarely wastes words. Standing by his car, surrounded by microphones and cameras, he made his stance on the next Ballon d'Or crystal clear — and he did it with the volume turned all the way up.

"The Ballon d'Or is for Lamine Yamal, without a doubt," Mendes insisted, as quoted by A Bola. He didn’t soften the claim, he doubled down on it. "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 half-measures. Just a super-agent putting his full weight behind the Barcelona prodigy.

The confidence around Yamal isn’t only coming from his camp. It’s coming from the player himself. Speaking to Universo Valdano, the La Masia graduate had already outlined his own belief that he belongs at the very top of the game.

"Who would I give it to? The best player in the world," he said when asked about the award. "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 in the conversation. That’s a player staking a claim.

Yamal then pushed the point even further. "Yes, for me it's very clear, and everyone who watches the matches knows that."

Between the agent’s bold declaration and the player’s own unflinching self-belief, the message is unmistakable: in their eyes, the Ballon d'Or race already has a rightful winner — and his name is Lamine Yamal.