Ballon d'Or: Barcelona legend names surprise candidate for 2025 award - and omits big stars from his four-man shortlist
By Rhys Jones
Updated 22/06/2025 at 18:52 GMT+1
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Barcelona legend Deco said that Lamine Yamal can "see what others don't," as he compared the 17-year-old to former Barcelona stars Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho. Deco, who is the current sporting director at Camp Nou, listed four names in the running for the Ballon d'Or, including Yamal, who could become the youngest player to win the award should he pick up this year's prestigious prize.
'Mesmerising' from Yamal as he scores worldie for Barcelona
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Barcelona sporting director and legendary former player Deco has named "genius" Lamine Yamal as one of four players he believes is in contention to win the Ballon d'Or.
The Barca forward would become the youngest player to win the award should he pick up the prestigious prize in Paris on September 22.
His primary competition for this year's Ballon d'Or is former Barcelona player Ousmane Dembele, whose performances helped Paris Saint-Germain win the UEFA Champions League, propelling his name towards the top of the list.
"Lamine has a chance, like Pedri, Dembele or Vitinha," Deco told La Vanguardia.
Yamal's team-mate for club and country, Pedri, has had a fine season, but has not been widely thought to be among the front-runners.
Meanwhile, Portuguese midfielder Vitinha saw his stock rise following PSG's UCL win.
"The great thing is to see Barca back in the running for the awards," Deco added.
There was no place on Deco's shortlist for Kylian Mbappe, Mo Salah or Nuno Mendes, nor Barcelona's Raphinha.
Yamal produced a return of 18 goals and 25 assists in 55 appearances for Barcelona in the 2024/25 season as the club won La Liga and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
Despite being knocked out by Internazionale at that stage, he lit up the tie and produced one of the goals of the tournament in a thrilling first leg.
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Highlights: Yamal stars as Barca and Inter play out six-goal thriller
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The last time a Barcelona player won the award was Messi in 2019, when he captured his sixth Ballon d'Or.
The Argentina international won it again in 2021, but was a PSG player at the time having just transferred from the Catalan club.
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'He has it all' - Yamal backed to become a 'football legend' by De La Fuente
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Deco, himself a runner-up for the 2004 Ballon d'Or, said that Yamal possesses a similar level of genius to Messi, as well as to Ronaldinho.
He said: "What geniuses have in common is that they see what others don’t, and Lamine has that."
Yamal has plenty of people in football backing him for this year's award, including Manchester United outcast Marcus Rashford, who admitted he would like to play with Yamal at Barcelona.
"If you look at it just from football ability I think he has to win," Rashford said.
"But then if you look at Dembele with the Champions League win...it depends how you see it.
"I wouldn’t be disappointed whichever of them won."
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