Manchester City's Spanish midfielder Rodri receives the Ballon d'Or award during the 2024 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on October 28, 2024.

Rodri says 17-year-old Barcelona player will win the Ballon d’Or ‘very soon’

Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

FC Barcelona had a rather sizeable delegation present at the latest edition of the Ballon d’Or ceremony. The reason behind such a big delegation was the number of awards that the club was in contention to win. Ultimately, Barcelona ended up taking away several awards between both the women’s and men’s teams.

One of the most prominent awards that the Barcelona men’s team managed to win was the Kopa Trophy. Awarded to the best Under-21 player over the course of the past year, there was only one clear winner this time and that was Lamine Yamal.

The 17-year-old Barcelona prodigy ended up winning that award and simultaneously managed to finish in 8th place on the Ballon d’Or rankings as well, becoming the youngest player ever to reach either achievement. However, a certain winner of the Ballon d’Or itself seems to think that Yamal is destined for even greater things.

PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 28: Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí of Spain and FC Barcelona attend the 68th Ballon D'Or Photocall at Theatre Du Chatelet on October 28, 2024 in Paris, France.
Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

As per Rodri himself, the winner of the 2024 Ballon d’Or, Lamine Yamal is a player who will also end up lifting the award ‘very soon’:

“Lamine Yamal will win this trophy very soon, I’m convinced of it. Keep it up, keep working, and you’ll get there.”

Such huge words of praise and motivation from the Manchester City midfielder will understandably be a massive boost for young Lamine Yamal, who is already producing wonders this season. However, as the player will likely realize later on, these compliments can also end up being a huge expectation to live up to as well.

At the moment, however, Yamal is likely focused on having just won the Kopa Trophy and on the fact that he is its youngest-ever recipient. As for the Ballon d’Or, Brazil’s Ronaldo remains the youngest player to win it at the age of 21—a milestone Yamal still has several years to reach, during which he could potentially break that record.

Tags Ballon D'or Ballon d'Or 2024 Kopa Trophy Lamine Yamal Manchester City Rodri