Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal has already established himself among the world’s best footballers at just 19 years old.
However, despite another remarkable year for club and country, the youngster will have to wait longer to claim his first Ballon d’Or.
The Barcelona attacker finished third in the rankings, behind Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, but secured the Kopa Trophy for the third consecutive time.
Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has offered words of encouragement to the Barcelona winger following Monday’s ceremony in London.
De la Fuente confident of future wins for Lamine Yamal
De la Fuente expressed complete confidence that La Roja‘s star attacker will eventually win football’s most prestigious award.
“Lamine is going to win many Ballons d’Or. He should rest easy, because we know who he is and the potential he possesses,” De la Fuente told COPE.
Understandably for a teenager, missing out on the Ballon d’Or might come as a disappointment to Lamine.
Lamine Yamal will get more chances for the Ballon d’Or award. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
However, he should look to channel that into motivation to perform even better and make it impossible for anyone else to win the award next year.
De la Fuente, who was named Men’s Coach of the Year at the ceremony, can see where Lamine’s potential can take him.
Barcelona must continue nurturing their biggest talent
The Spain manager’s comments carry particular influence after a difficult week for both Barcelona and Lamine that included defeats against PSG and Real Madrid.
The teenager struggled to make his usual impact in Sunday’s Clasico, and despite scoring a goal against PSG, his overall game was quite average.
For a player who has made a name for himself by stepping up in the big games, Lamine would not have been proud of the week he had.
Luis de la Fuente sees the ceiling that Lamine has in football. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
It also shows that, at 19, expecting the Spaniard to be a beacon of consistency week in and week out might be unrealistic for Barça.
One disappointing performance does not take away his status as one of the best in the world, but Lamine will be keen to return to his best sooner rather than later.
The bigger challenge for Barcelona is to ensure that the pressure of winning the Ballon d’Or does not get to him.
At 19, Yamal still has considerable room to improve his decision-making, consistency and goalscoring numbers.
Everyone is confident that the Barça teenager will win a few Ballon d’Or awards in the future. The onus is now on him to keep improving and finish higher next season.
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