Lamine Yamal: The Best Player in the World

Jorge Mendes is not a man who wastes words. Standing by his car, surrounded by microphones and cameras, he nailed his colours to the mast.

“The Ballon d'Or is for Lamine Yamal, without a doubt,” he declared, as quoted by A Bola. “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 super-agent publicly backing his client as the game’s standout footballer.

Yamal himself has hardly shied away from that conversation. Speaking to Universo Valdano, the La Masia product showed the same steel in front of the camera that he shows with the ball at his feet.

“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 Mbappé. And I think I would deserve it this year because of what I've achieved.”

That is not the language of a youngster simply happy to be mentioned among the elite. It is the voice of a player who believes he already belongs at the very top.

He pushed the point even further.

“Yes, for me it's very clear, and everyone who watches the matches knows that.”

Between an agent convinced his client is “the best in the world, by a wide margin” and a player who openly places himself on a level with Kylian Mbappé, the message is unmistakable: Lamine Yamal is not waiting for permission to enter the Ballon d'Or debate. He is walking straight into the centre of it.