The Athletic editor’s Kopa Trophy picks: Any other candidate except Yamal?

The Athletic editors share their picks of Kopa Trophy Winner. Almost everyone of them chooses Lamine Yamal, but some names are also mentioned.

Burke: Yamal. Who else?

Anka: At 17 last season, Yamal was among the five best men’s football players around… and he wasn’t fifth. 

He’s the most influential player in a dizzying Barcelona attack and is capable of delivering a dipping cross into the corridor of uncertainty that is near-impossible to stop.

I interviewed Eric Cantona partway through the 2024 European Championship and the Manchester United legend told me Yamal is one of his favourite players to watch. Yamal’s goal against France in that tournament provoked opponent Mbappe to perform that, ‘Fair enough, you don’t stop those’ shakes of the head he does every so often.

It’s a case of when Yamal wins the Ballon d’Or proper, not if.

Raghuraman: Yamal is the obvious candidate. 

He plays with the confidence and arrogance of one who knows few are better than him at full flow. When that is combined with his precocious talent and flair, the results are what we saw last season: 18 goals and 21 assists, and three trophies won, for Barcelona, plus his role in Spain becoming European champions at the start of it. A joy to behold.

Stafford-Bloor: Yamal, and it’s really not particularly close.

 I’m not even sure who should be second on the list because he was the best 17-year-old player most of us have ever seen.

Corrigan: Desire Doue, Dean Huijsen, Joao Neves and Kenan Yildiz all had spectacular campaigns, but Yamal should really be a shoo-in here. 

The Barcelona youngster made tremendous progress in his second full season of senior football.

Among the games he grabbed by the scruff of the neck were the ‘Clasico’ Copa del Rey final and the Champions League semi-final’s first leg against Inter.

To do all this before his 18th birthday was pretty amazing.

Jones: It’s impossible to see this award going to anyone but Yamal.

To be stepping up and matching top players, not only technically but physically, at his age is phenomenal and he is a real joy to watch. With all that said, PSG’s Doue has done everything right — except having the misfortune to be contending for these young player awards at the same time as Yamal. He is an absolutely brilliant footballer.

The narrative about how refreshing it is to have a pool of Ballon d’Or contenders that extends past one or two names might fall flat on its face as soon as Yamal is too old to receive the Kopa Trophy.