Bayern director aims barb at Lamine Yamal over Ballon d’Or race: ‘The best players don’t need a campaign to win’ | OneFootball

The Ballon d’Or has once again emerged as the top pick of journalists to cover on Spanish and international media.

As the award ceremony nears and the candidate list has been unveiled, there has been much discussion on who deserves to win it this year, especially given the result of the FIFA World Cup.

Every club has been pushing their players as candidates for the award, and from Barcelona it is clear that Lamine Yamal is seen as a frontrunner.

The Barcelona superstar and the club administration, in fact, have both spoken about it openly.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, see Kylian Mbappe as a strong candidate to win, and their management and the player himself have both come out to speak strongly in his favour.

Bayern Munich’s take

Speaking to the media in a recent interaction via SPORT, the sports director of Bayern Munich Max Eberl was asked to share his honest thoughts on the Ballon d’Or race and where his players stood amid the media war between Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe.

Bayern Munich’s top contender. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Making his case very clear and not mincing any words, Eberl stated that everything in the media was just noise and explained how the best players are the ones who need no external push, subtly hinting at the Bayern Munich contenders as favourites.

“All that some do or say are just electoral campaigns. The best players are those who don’t need a campaign to win prizes.”

The top contenders for the Ballon d’Or from Bayern Munich, needless to say, are Harry Kane and Michael Olise.

While both players had an impressive season with the German club, neither shone brightly as one of the best players at the FIFA World Cup, nor did they go on to win the competition with their respective nations.

Lamine Yamal’s case

Yamal has a strong case. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

As is the case with Kane and Olise, Yamal’s World Cup was not special in a numerical sense as he scored only once, that too in the group stages.

What makes him a strong contender, however, is the fact that his side went on to win the competition with dominance, and no single player in La Roja can claim to have ‘carried’ the side’.

Luis de La Fuente’s men performed like a unit, and Yamal was a part of that unbeatable system. Given his accolades and records at the club level combined with that, he stands out as a strong candidate.