Lamine Yamal can’t stay out of the headlines right now as the Barcelona star continues to shine for club and country in the early weeks of the season.
The teenager is also being tipped to win the Ballon d’Or next month at the tender age of 19 following a season where he won La Liga and the World Cup.
Yamal’s former youth coach Iván Carrasco says there’s no doubt he’s the best player in the world but also says there’s still a lot more to come from the Spain star.
“It was very obvious, an incredible natural
talent. Everyone who worked closely with Lamine knew he had a lot of potential, a lot of natural talent, and that it was only a matter of time,” he told Cadena SER.
“For me, he’s the best footballer in the world right now, and I think we haven’t seen everything he’s capable of yet. He’s still very young, he has a lot to prove, even though he’s already leading a team as important as FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, at just 18 or 19 years old. We still have a lot to see.
“He’s won La Liga, the most important championship like the World Cup with the Spanish national team… Maybe last season he didn’t have the best numbers in the regular league, but he’s still in his breakout phase. This season’s numbers are already better than last season’s.”
Carrasco also offered a bit of insight into Yamal as a person, admitting he’s different from stars such as Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.
“He’s sincere, honest. He’s a person with a very strong character. He knows the talent he has, that he’s in the top 1 or top 2 in the world, and he says so openly,” he added.
“He’s not the type of footballer that people generally accept most readily, a humble footballer like Iniesta or Messi, but this is his way of being, and it’s his natural way of expressing himself.”
