Paul Pogba, the 32-year-old midfielder who recently signed for AS Monaco in order to relaunch his career after a doping suspension in September 2023, was on Twitch with streamer Speed. The French international took the opportunity to talk about the Ballon d’Or 2025. He placed 28-year-old France forward Ousmane Dembélé clearly in first place.
Pogba “Dembélé will always be ahead of Yamal!”
“For me, Dembélé will always be ahead of Yamal! I definitely support Dembouz. He’s won the Champions League, scored goals… he’s been very important this season. If he doesn’t win it this year, he’ll never get it.
Pogba “Hakimi and Vitinha have been very good too.”
Hakimi and Vitinha have been very good too. Dembélé is favourite for the Ballon d’Or. In 5, Mbappé. They killed him and all that, but he’s Pichichi and the best goalscorer in Europe and the world (Golden Shoe). It’s hard to say, but I respect him.”
With Dembélé the winner and 2 other Parisians in the top 5, it’s a ranking that Paris can be proud of. Especially as the choices don’t seem to be made solely on the basis of friendship. Dembélé Ballon d’Or, that makes sense. After all, he’s having a great season, which could leave a lasting impression. It’s hard to imagine a Ballon d’Or in his career, if not this one.
However, the competition is tough. As Pogba points out, Achraf Hakimi (26-year-old right-back) and Vitinha (25-year-old midfielder) have also been immense this season. In fact, it was the former who was voted player of the season on our site (by a wide margin), with the latter coming a close 3rd behind Dembélé.
We know that the choice seems almost “obvious” to some, especially in France, but others have some very good arguments. Logically, they have also played a major role in PSG’s successes. That’s the difficulty with the Ballon d’Or. Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona’s 18-year-old striker) and Kylian Mbappé (26-year-old striker) have also achieved great things, but their victory would be more surprising.
