Lamine Yamal on his Ballon d’Or prospects: ‘I think my style of play is my strongest argument.’ | OneFootball

Like many of this year’s candidates, Lamine Yamal (19) hasn’t shirked away from drumming home his arguments for why he should win the Ballon d’Or. Kylian Mbappé has already done several interviews, one of which may have shirked the current holder and once again a candidate to retain his trophy, Ousmane Dembélé. Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, have been pushing their favourites for the award, Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, both of whom have been prominent in the media since their nominations earlier this month.

Yamal is coming off a season where he won La Liga with Barcelona and the FIFA World Cup with the Spain national team. At just 19, he has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or on three occasions. Last season, he was pipped by PSG’s Dembélé but won the Kopa Trophy, for the second time, awarded to the best young player. The Spain international was asked why he believed Dembélé won the award last year instead of him.

Ballon d’Or is for ‘magic’ players that ‘make you smile’ – Yamal

“We both played in the Champions League. We got to the semi-finals and he won it… experience counts, too […] I want to congratulate Ousmane on his very good season,” Yamal told L’Équipe. “The Ballon d’Or is the prize for the best player of the year, of the different player, the one that you enjoy watching play, the one that has that magic, that makes you smile, the one that makes you want to watch a game just to watch him. It has nothing to do with the number of goals that he scores, nor with anything else,” added the Barcelona forward.

Yamal was then asked what his arguments were to win the prize for the first time. “I think that those who watch football know what my arguments are,” began the Spaniard. “On the pitch, I enjoy myself, I play well, as I want to. I was also lucky to win lots of titles with Barca. That’s been the case for two years, and I won the most important one, the World Cup. But beyond that, I think that my style of play is my strongest argument and what makes me different,” he said.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle