Jorge Mendes did not need a stage. He walked out of a Barcelona restaurant after a two-hour dinner with Joan Laporta and delivered his verdict on the 2026 Ballon d’Or to the reporters waiting on the pavement.

“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,” the Portuguese agent said, in comments reported by Goal from Mundo Deportivo’s original account.

Mendes represents Yamal through Gestifute, the same firm that has guided Cristiano Ronaldo and a widening bloc of Barcelona players. As Africa Soccer notes, Mendes and Laporta also met on Monday to discuss matters relating to the team. This is not an outside verdict from someone with distance. It is Yamal’s own agent going public six weeks before the vote.

Six weeks to London

France Football’s 70th ceremony will be held in London on October 26, moving from its traditional Paris home to mark the anniversary of the first award, won by Stanley Matthews in 1956. The 30-man men’s shortlist was released on September 8 and lists Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane and Yamal at its head, with Vinícius Júnior and a bloc of PSG players filling out much of the list. Dembélé is the reigning holder, having won the 2025 award.

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What Yamal has done

The winger turned 19 in July and played a central role as Spain won the World Cup in North America. Barcelona won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup last season under Hansi Flick.

Kane offers the sternest statistical case. According to Al Jazeera, he scored 73 goals for club and country, won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and led England to third place at the World Cup. Dembélé has already argued that the trophy will stay in Paris. Yamal himself has narrowed the field to two, telling reporters that “maybe there are two of us, me and Mbappé.” Mendes’s speech on the pavement pushes past even that.

Timing that is not accidental

Public statements from Mendes tend to be deliberate. This one landed straight out of dinner with Laporta, at a moment when Yamal’s future is the anchor of Barcelona’s sporting project. He has already signed a lucrative long-term extension with the club, and Yahoo Sports reports that his agent set a $1.3bn valuation record at the World Cup. Ballon d’Or voters, drawn from journalists in the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries, will file their choices before the London ceremony on October 26.

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