Spain coach Luis de la Fuente is optimistic that young prodigy Lamine Yamal will win many Ballon d’Or awards in his career. Yamal has shown the potential to go a long way in his career and has ticked the right boxes in his young career.
The Spaniard finished in third place in the Ballon d’Or race behind Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
De la Fuente, who won the Ballon d’Or for men’s coach of the year on Monday after leading Spain to World Cup glory, told Cadena Cope after the ceremony: “Lamine Yamal is going to win many Ballon d’Or awards, many individual trophies, but more importantly, he is going to win many more team trophies. I know he values that more.”
Yamal has already won three LaLiga titles with Barcelona.
The winger scored 25 goals and provided 20 assists in 57 appearances to help Barcelona defend the LaLiga title and win the Spanish Supercopa in the previous season.
“He needs to be calm because we know who he is, what he represents,” De la Fuente said of Yamal, who was part of Spain’s World Cup winning squad.
“We know the potential he has, the great footballer he is and the great person he is.”
On the other hand, Barcelona president Joan Laporta heaped praised on Yamal.
“What Lamine has done is unique,” Laporta told Cadena Cope. “He’s won the young player award for the third consecutive time. We are very proud of him. He deserves everything. We will all help him to be even more motivated next year to get this award.”
Barcelona will next take on Alaves on Saturday.
Image credits: David Ramos/ Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
