- Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal, 17, was crowned the best U21 player in the world
- A three-time winner of the award put two Premier League stars in his top three
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Lamine Yamal was crowned as the best Under-21 player in the world 11 days ago – and voting picks have now revealed one former winner overlooked him.
Former winners of the Ballon d’Or made their picks for the Kopa Trophy, an award for U21 players, and one three-time winner chose two Manchester United youngsters in his top three.
Players are awarded five points for a first place vote, three for second and one point for a third place vote.
Former Brazil striker Ronaldo, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner in 1997 and 2002, controversially did not have Yamal as No 1, instead putting Manchester City star Savinho as his winner.
Of 23 player votes revealed by L’Equipe, 22 picked Yamal as their top pick – but Marco van Basten surprised by picking two Man United youngsters who came to prominence under Erik ten Hag.
Barcelona’s 17-year-old superstar Lamine Yamal was recently awarded the 2024 Kopa Trophy
Marco van Basten (left) picked two players in his top three who played for Erik ten Hag (right)
Van Basten had Alejandro Garnacho ranked second to Yamal, while Kobbie Mainoo, also of Manchester United, ranked third on his ballot.
Only three other voters selected Garnacho, all of whom placed the Argentina youngster third on their ballots.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema have been revealed to have picked Garnacho.
Mainoo ranked third overall in the voting with 20 points, only behind Yamal (113 points) and Real Madrid’s Arda Guler (26 points).
Gianni Rivera, 1969 Ballon d’Or winner, Igor Belanov, Ruud Gullit, Matthias Sammer and Michael Owen, all ranked Mainoo second overall.
Kaka, Andrei Shevchenko and Pavel Nedved were among those to select the United teenager in third.
Denis Law (1964 winner), Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979 winner), Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985 winner), Roberto Baggio (1993 winner), George Weah (1995 winner), Zinédine Zidane (1998 winner), and Cristiano Ronaldo (2008 winner, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017) all failed to vote.
Yamal has been the stand-out young player in Europe and he played a starring role in the summer to help guide Spain to European Championship glory over England.
Savinho (left) won one first place vote while Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo (right) both proved to be popular selections on the ballots of former Ballon d’Or winners
Former Ballon d’Or winners select a top three to crown the best Under-21 player in Europe
Guler, who impressed for Turkey in their deep Euros run, almost followed in the footsteps of Real Madrid peers Kylian Mbappe (2018) and Jude Bellingham (2023), both past winners of the Kopa Trophy.
Manchester United do currently have a winner in their side with Matthijs de Ligt a previous recipient. The defender won it after helping Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.
Savinho and Pau Cubarsi finished fourth and fifth in the 2024 ranking, with Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaire-Emery, Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel and Red Bull Salzburg’s Karim Konate joint-eighth.
