Wednesday, November 27, 2024, 17:10
Lamine Yamal is the winner of the Golden Boy 2024, the trophy awarded by the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport and which accredits the best player under 21 years of age in European football. The 17-year-old Barça winger obtained 488 points out of a possible 500 and thus succeeds Real Madrid player Jude Bellingham, winner in 2023. He becomes the third Barça player to win the award in the four latest editions, after Pedri achieved it in 2021 and Gavi in 2022.
«It is an honor to win this trophy. It’s a dream, I’m very happy. Thanks to Tuttosport and the jury. “I don’t want to forget my teammates and coaching staff from both Barcelona and the Spanish team,” said Lamine Yamal in a video that was shown during the event in which his victory was revealed and which was held in Turin, headquarters of the newspaper that grants the precious recognition.
This is the fifth time that the Golden Boy has gone to a Spanish footballer, since in addition to the aforementioned Lamine Yamal, Gavi and Pedri, Cesc Fàbregas had already won the prestigious race in 2006, and Isco Alarcón, in 2012.
Another well-known Spanish footballer, the German Toni Kroos, will be awarded the Golden Player Man, an award that accredits the former Real Madrid metronome during an unforgettable decade as the best player of last season over 21 years of age. Retired at the end of the Euro Cup held last summer in his native country, Kroos thus adds new recognition to an immortal career in which the six Champions Leagues he won especially shine, five of them with Real Madrid and the other with Bayern. .
The other two candidates for the Golden Player Man, an award that is awarded by Tuttosport opinion, without voting, as is the case with the Golden Player Woman, were Rodrigo Hernández and Vinicius, who came first and second, respectively, in the voting. for the Ballon d’Or that was awarded on October 28 and where Kroos finished ninth, just one position behind Lamine Yamal.
Spanish football also dominates the Tuttosport awards in the women’s category. Vicky López, an 18-year-old Barça midfielder from Madrid, will be rewarded with the Golden Girl, a distinction equivalent to the Golden Boy and which serves to recognize the greatest promise under 21 years of age among those emerging in European football. An award that last year went to Linda Caicedo, a Colombian soccer player for Real Madrid, and that until now had not fallen into the hands of any Spanish player.
Aitana Bonmatí, Vicky López’s teammate at Barça, emerges as Golden Player Woman, thereby confirming her status as the best player in the world, which she underpinned by winning the last two Ballon d’Ors that have been awarded.
The Turkish Kenan Yildiz, belonging to Juventus, has been designated as Golden Boy Web, an award that is awarded based on the votes of the fans and that Jude Bellingham also won last year. Antonio Percassi, businessman who runs Atalanta, wins the award for best president, Txiki Begiristain, outgoing sporting director of Manchester City, is recognized as best manager, while Jorge Mendes wins as best agent. All these awards will be presented on December 16 at a gala that will take place in Turin.
The world at your feet
Lamine Yamal’s extraordinary emergence into the elite during the last campaign, culminated with the conquest of the European Championship in Germany by the Spanish team, of which he was a prominent figure, made the talented winger from Mataró the great favorite in all the pools. developed for an award that Tuttosport has awarded since 2003. The recognition that he will receive on December 16 in Turin will be added to the Kopa Trophy that he collected last October 28 during the Ballon d’Or gala and which already established him as the greatest promise in European football.
Debutant in an official match with Barça in the 2022-23 League, when Xavi Hernández enlisted him in the final stretch of a duel that pitted the Blaugranas against Betis at the Camp Nou, Lamine Yamal established himself as a big star for Barça this season last, in which he scored seven goals and distributed as many assists in the 50 games in which he participated wearing the Barça jersey.
His high performance also catapulted him to the Spanish team. Luis de la Fuente made his debut as a full international in a clash against Georgia corresponding to the qualifying phase for the European Championship in Germany. It was arriving and kissing the saint. There, in Tbilisi, Lamine Yamal scored his first goal for La Roja, becoming, at 16 years and 57 days, the youngest player to play and score for the Spanish national team.
His class and self-confidence would help him become, months later, one of the great sensations of the Euro Cup, where he forged a great partnership with Nico Williams that turned the La Roja wingers into the terror of the championship and was decisive for the team Luis de la Fuente’s laurels should turn green.
