Yamal rejects Real Madrid move, speaks on Ballon d’Or battle with Dembele

Lamine Yamal rules out any chance of joining Barcelona’s eternal rivals and speaks candidly about the Ballon d’Or.

Lamine Yamal has once again donned the Spanish national team colours as they prepare for the Nations League Final Four, which begins with a semi-final clash against France on Thursday.

The Barcelona winger is eager for the chance to lift another trophy, but does not view the match as a personal battle against Ousmane Dembele for the Ballon d’Or.

Opening the debate, he argued that Thursday’s game should not decide the winner of the award: “If you were voting for the Ballon d’Or, would you choose the best player of the year, or the one who wins the match on Thursday? Whether we win or not, I would vote for the best player of the year. If something happens to me or to Dembele… Who do you vote for?”

“If people want us to settle it on Thursday, then we’ll settle it. I’m not thinking about the trophy or whether I’m going to win. You’ll do badly if you think you have to win it. What I do is play and try to win. If next year I win the Champions League and the World Cup, then I’ll win it. If it’s this year… Then it will come. Enjoy it and let it come when it comes,” he added.

On handling public opinion, Yamal said: “I’m not focused on it, but it reaches me. My friend calls me and tells me about it. I get sent a lot on TikTok, also good things. The bad stuff mostly comes from my friends, who send it because they know it motivates me. They send it 20 minutes before matches.”

“For example, against France, I was sleeping on the bus, woke up, and my friend called me saying, ‘Remember what Rabiot told you’. The game started, and they scored against us. I remember looking at the crowd, and my friend told me to remember that,” he concluded.

When asked if he would ever consider signing for Real Madrid, Yamal was emphatic: “No, impossible.”