It is not surreal to find out that many of the greats at FC Barcelona are universally praised. The Catalan club has produced many of football’s greatest talents, and their qualities are universally admired. From the likes of the players from Guardiola’s great Barcelona team to even the present day, praise remains a constant.
Even now, several Barcelona stars are performing well for both club and country. At the moment, the special few who were fortunate enough to represent their nations at the European Championship in Germany are doing so with great pride and effectiveness.
One of the standout performers, however, remains Lamine Yamal. The 16-year-old Spanish winger made his Euro debut against Croatia in the opener for Group B, and ended up breaking two historic records in the process. Since then, a certain key figure for UEFA has spoken out publicly about Yamal’s quality in a recent address to the press and media.
As highlighted by SPORT, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin held back no words when praising the 16-year-old Barcelona prodigy, even going as far as to say that he is the best young player in the world:
“Lamine Yamal is the best young player in the world, he could be the best in a few years. If I were a club with money, he would be the first player I would sign.”
Such huge praise from the UEFA president himself, one who hails from Slovenia and does not inherently have any direct ties to Barcelona or Spain, will likely send some waves through the footballing world. Yamal’s ascendancy is no secret anymore, and Barcelona will not be looking to sell him any time soon.
As for Spain, the team that continues to house many Barcelona talents and players, remains one of Ceferin’s absolute favorites for the tournament as well: “I already said that for me, it (Spain) is one of the favorites of the European Championship.”
Lamine Yamal and Spain currently sit on top of Group B with three points to their name. The Barcelona prodigy and his compatriots now look to face Italy in their next group-stage encounter. For Barcelona, the better Yamal performs the higher his valuation grows.