Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand has given conditions for Lamine Yamal to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or over the likes of Raphinha, Mohamed Salah and Ousmane Dembele.
Ferdinand believes the 17-year-old Barcelona winger deserves the award if he guides the Catalan club to the Champions League title and also make the difference in the final.
Speaking on his Rio Presents podcast, Ferdinand’s co-presenter brought up the question of Yamal winning the Ballon d’Or, asking: “Lamine Yamal has won the Euros with Spain, he was a key player for them. He scored in the last 16, the quarters, [and] the semis. What if is the difference in Milan in the second leg? What if he is the difference in the final? Can we make a legitimate case now that he wins the Ballon d’Or?”;
However, Ferdinand was quick to agree, saying: “I am with you.
“If he does what you just said, I think he deserves it right. And I would say that it does, then. It shuts up a lot of people who have really driven to be motivated by stats only because there are people who scored far more goals and have impacted in terms of delivery of stats.”;
However, after guiding Barcelona to a 3-3 draw against Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final first leg tie on Wednesday night, Ferdinand labelled the youngster .
Meanwhile, the likes of Raphinha, Dembele and Salah are strong contenders for the Ballon d’Or this year after Manchester City’s Rodri won it last year ahead of Vinicius Junior.
