‘We are looking at the next Ballon d’Or winner’ – Atletico Madrid legend heaps praise on Barcelona winger | OneFootball

There is no doubt that Lamine Yamal is one of the brightest players to have emerged from the FC Barcelona youth academy in the last few years.

The young winger became a regular in the first team at just 16 years old, and now, at 17, he is already a key part of Hansi Flick’s Blaugrana squad.

Owing to his amazing performances at such a young age, the La Masia graduate has received praise from several quarters, not only from his own teammates but also from other individuals who have never been associated with FC Barcelona or Spain.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the latest such individual who spoke very highly of the Blaugrana winger was the former Portuguese striker Paulo Futre, who appeared in a recent interview.

The Atletico Madrid legend believed Yamal was going to win more than one Ballon d’Or in his career:

“Lamine is a phenomenon. We are looking at the next Ballon d’Or winner, and I don’t know how many times he will win it in the coming years because he could win several.”

Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images

Futre also highlighted some specific characteristics of the prodigious youngster that make him so good: “Lamine plays with incredible personality, quality, and a winning character!”

The former Portuguese star also named Yamal as the one player from this Barcelona team that he would sign: “If I had to sign one, it would be Lamine, although Raphinha and Pedri are also there.”

With the level that the young winger has already shown, very few people would bet against him winning the biggest individual titles in football.

Hopefully, he will continue performing at this level for the coming years as well, and thus follow Lionel Messi to bring several Ballon d’Ors to the Camp Nou, while also helping his team win important titles.