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On the night in Paris when Ousmane Dembele was crowned the winner of the Ballon d’Or, the father of Lamine Yamal said that his son missing out on the award was ‘the biggest moral damage done to a human being’.
Yamal, 18, came second in the voting to Dembele, who won the Champions League with PSG but Mounir Nasraoui was adamant, insisting that ‘something strange had happened’ and that Yamal was the ‘best player in the world, by far.’
Just hours earlier, 20 of Yamal’s family and friends had turned up alongside the Barcelona contingent to the Theatre Du Chatelet.
It was a lovely sight too seeing his grandmother Fatima make the trip - the same woman who turned down Yamal’s offer to buy her a house saying she preferred to stay in Rocafonda, a neighbourhood that was initially built to accommodate immigrants.
When I visited Rocafonda in May, the sign in the playground read: En el barrio de Rocafonda, mas Lamine Yamals y menos Desahucios’ (In the Rocafonda neighbourhood, more Lamine Yamals and fewer evictions). Above all, his is a story of pride and celebration.
That night in France, a private space was reserved in case Yamal won the prize. The Ballon d’Or evaded him but for the second year in a row, the teenager won the Kopa Trophy - awarded to the best player under the age of 21. At just 18, he literally has the world at his feet.
Lamine Yamal failed to win the Ballon d'Or having surrounded himself with his family at the ceremony in Paris
But despite missing out on the award Yamal remains the most exciting prospect in the fame
Yet despite all there is to love about his game, Yamal continues to get in the headlines for his off-field antics from hosting a controversial birthday party where he allegedly hired several people with dwarfism to constant stories about his lifestyle and his relationships.
Yamal was linked with 30-year-old OnlyFans model Fati Vazquez this summer after the pair were spotted holidaying together on the island of Pantelleria, off the coast of Siciliy.
While the teenager denied the pair were in a relationship, Vazquez was more coy, saying that they were 'just two people who want to have a good time'.
Later that summer, Yamal went public with his relationship with Argentine rapper-influencer Nicki Nicole, who is six years older than the starlet.
Nicole had been present at Yamal's birthday party, where it was alleged that women were paid to attend the party and hired based on their breast size.
Despite speculation that the pair had split just 13 days after sharing their romance on social media, Nicole and Yamal instead lasted until the start of this month, when the pair separated amid rumours that the forward had been unfaithful to his ex-girlfriend with Italian influencer Anna Gegnoso during a trip to Milan. Yamal and Nicole have denied the claim.
It was only earlier this year that as part of his desire to have a private life, Yamal moved out of La Masia and into his own apartment nearby alongside his cousin Mohammed and his boyhood friend Suhaib. Barcelona broke their own protocol by bringing Yamal to live at La Masia in the first place then made another special exception when he wanted to leave.
A few weeks ago, Yamal posted a picture outside a £9.5million mansion that was once the residence of Gerard Pique and Shakira.
Yamal spent a holiday in June with flight attendant and OnlyFans model Fati Vazquez
For his birthday party, Claudia Calvo alleged that the starlet had looked to hire women to attend based on their breast size
Most recently Yamal dated Argentine rapper Nicki Nicole, with the teen splitting with the 25-year-old in November
Mundo Deportivo, the Spanish outlet reported that Yamal now owns the property after signing a six-year-deal in the summer that could be worth almost £33.5m a year.
On the pitch, Yamal has made an impressive start to this campaign with six goals and six assists in 11 games, averaging a goal involvement every 74 minutes.
Flick’s side are three points behind Real Madrid in La Liga having lost to Xabi Alonso’s side in the El Clasico last month. That clash ended with Yamal’s Spanish teammate Dani Carvajal doing a hand gesture to him implying that the teenager was talking too much.
It came after Yamal made some naive comments in a streaming studio with his mates.
The comment comparing a Kings League team with Real Madrid and saying ‘they steal, they complain’ were made with tongue in cheek but the Madrid players didn’t take them lightly.
A year earlier, Yamal had scored at the Bernabeu as Barcelona won 4-0 and he used a picture from that day to further stir up the tension.
It spoke volumes that a 33-year-old in Carvajal felt the need to tell his compatriot.
After the game, Jude Bellingham posted a picture of himself celebrating scoring the winning goal with the caption ‘Talk is cheap’ and Elvis Presley’s soundtrack ‘A Little Less Conversation’.
The teenager found himself in hot water after hosting the controversial party for his birthday
After making some naive comments ahead of El Clasico Lamal attracted the ire of Dani Carvajal
The Barcelona star was separated from the fray after stirring up heated emotions before the tie
Yamal burst onto the international scene with his landmark performance at last year's Euros
But his manager and team-mates are adamant that he remains a 'normal kid' still learning
Yamal was hardly innocent in this and paid for his pre Clasico talk but the question must be asked that at just 18, does he need more protection?
For Flick, Yamal’s status is already clear as a leader. ‘Believe me, he’s not a kid,’ Flick told Mail Sport after the Clasico in May where Barcelona won 4-3.
When the German was asked about Yamal’s off-field choices before the Clasico last month, he said it was ‘none of my business’.
Yamal’s talent is undeniable, and he can back his words with his performances - you only have to look at the way he trolled Adrien Rabiot at Euro 2024 - but here was a reminder that there is always room to learn.
In so many ways, 2024 was the year where the boy became a man after winning the Euros and dazzling in Germany.
Dembele may have won the Ballon d’Or but it’s hard to argue that there is a more exciting footballer in the world than Yamal.
After Barcelona’s Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter Milan, then Inter boss Simone Inzaghi described him ‘as a child born every 50 years’.
You only have to watch Yamal’s goal against Espanyol, which is a contender for the FIFA Puskas Award, on the night Barcelona clinched their 28th La Liga title to appreciate the joy he can bring to a game that is becoming more and more structural.
And regardless of your allegiances, he will undoubtedly be one of the names everyone will want to see come the World Cup next summer where there is the possibility that he could add a World Cup medal to his Euros medal by the age of 19.
’The joyful thing is that he plays like an inner-city child who wants to compete and win, with a free-spirit and by doing crazy things on a football pitch. He doesn’t feel pressure and maybe in five years it will be different but I really hope not,’ Aymeric Laporte told Mail Sport in May.
Perhaps, as Laporte indicates, that free-spirit will lead to questions along the way but Yamal still has so long to grow.
As Dean Huijsen said last week, when asked about Yamal’s absence from the Spanish camp due to a groin procedure. ‘Lamine is a normal kid. He's just 18 years old. Sometimes things are exaggerated with him.’
