Arsenal star admits ‘I hope’ one of 2 Barcelona players wins the Ballon d’Or | OneFootball

Arsenal star Mikel Merino has this week revealed his hope that one of a pair of Barcelona players will ultimately go on to lift the Ballon d’Or.

The pair in question? Lamine Yamal, and Pedri.

Both attacker Lamine and midfielder Pedri are of course fresh off spectacular individual campaigns in 2024/25.

En route to Barcelona securing a domestic treble, the duo played starring roles, amongst the very best performers in world football in their respective positions.

Both, in turn, have been named amongst the frontrunners for the next Ballon d’Or, with Lamine in particular being pushed as a candidate to secure the prize later this year.

And as alluded to above, one individual hopeful that the crown of world football’s best player will ultimately go the way of one of the two Blaugrana stars is Mikel Merino.

Arsenal midfielder Merino is currently on international duty with Spain, alongside compatriots Lamine and Pedri.

And drawn on the subject of the Ballon d’Or race during an interview with EFE (as cited by Diario Sport) on Tuesday, the former Real Sociedad man made use of the opportunity to throw his backing behind his two fellow countrymen:

“I hope Lamine Yamal or Pedri win it. Players we have in the national team who have had an incredible season. They have not won the Champions League but they have shown throughout the year that they are at the level of the best. Hopefully we win the Nations League and it will boost them, we also want to win it to give another title to the country and for personal ambition.”

Conor Laird – GSFN