'Trophies with Barcelona and then the Ballon d'Or' - Lamine Yamal sets the bar high after winning Golden Boy award

Lamine Yamal is not satisfied with being just a player who won the Golden Boy award, as he has already made his goal to someday win the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual accolade available in the sport, in addition to helping Barcelona win their first Champions League title since 2015. Yamal has been doing unimaginable things at the tender age of just 17 and is tipped to leave his mark in the upper echelons of the game.

Yamal broke into the Barcelona first team under Xavi towards the end of the 2022-23 season, before becoming a mainstay the following season. However, he has taken rapid strides, especially for someone who was 16 until a few months ago.

The La Masia graduate has become crucial for both Hansi Flick's Barcelona and Luis de la Fuente's Spain, winning the EURO 2024 with the latter where he was crowned the best young player of the tournament. His exploits over the past year earned him a deserved Golden Boy award after previously already winning France Football's Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in October.

Speaking to Tuttosport, the publication that established the Golden Boy award, Yamal discussed his ambitions: "If I win with Barca, especially the Champions League, I will have more chances to aim for the individual trophy that crowns a player's career: the Ballon d'Or. No player wins individual awards if he fails to win anything collectively with his team. So by winning collectively I will be closer to individual awards because one thing is the consequence of the other."

Yamal's promising start to the season was halted by an ankle injury sustained during Barcelona's 1-0 defeat to Leganes on Sunday evening. The right winger is set to be out of action until at least mid-January, which could see him miss the entirety of the Spanish Super Cup campaign in Saudi Arabia.