Lamine Yamal

Turin, Italy, Nov 27 (PL) Lamine Yamal won today the Golden Boy award, which adds to the Kopa Trophy awarded weeks ago at the Parisian Chatelet theater and makes him the best footballer on the planet under 21 years of age.

The Azulgrana winger's conquest tiptoed past the headlines, due to the scandal unleashed around Vinicius Jr. who could have pocketed the Ballon d'Or, but didn't, and caused a tsunami at Real Madrid, who decided to wipe the France Football gala off the map.

But the unusual and unjustified blunder of the white club and its president Florentino Perez cannot overshadow in the least the extraordinary growth of Yamal, a boy of just 17 years old capable of carrying on his shoulders a club in ruins, to return it to the top.

Lamine is a gamer. He is one of those different ones, in danger of extinction. His most powerful quality lies in the very heart of football, his vision, which together with his ability to dribble, pass between the lines and run deep, makes him a unique player.

He scores, assists, defends, runs all the time. He enjoys scoring a goal as much as recovering a ball in the defensive zone.

With coach Hansi Flick, Yamal has more room to exploit his talent. He is improving every day and there is still a huge margin for technical and tactical optimization.

If he remains focused and healthy, in a while he will stop being a child and will become a singular monster, a beast of competition, and will return to the France Football gala, with the same smile, but to collect the big prize, the Ballon d'Or.