Lamine Yamal knows it. The Golden Boy, the unofficial Ballon d'Or for under-21s, is his.
It won't happen to him like it did to Vinícius. The latter wanted to be convinced by those who assured him that he was going to win the Ballon d'Or. Then, the disappointment was huge.
Even Florentino Pérez cancelled a flight to Paris with 50 people on board because of his player's tantrum after the defeat.
Endrick and Güler Have Little to Do against Lamine Yamal
Lamine Yamal will be at the Sala Transparenza in Turin on December 16 to collect the award given by Tuttosport. This is another award after the Kopa award he received at the Ballon d'Or ceremony.
Barça has Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí as finalists, two of whom are from the youth academy. Real Madrid has Endrick and Arda Güler, two foreigners.
But neither Arda Güler nor Endrick can dream of preventing the Golden Boy from ending up in Lamine Yamal's hands. One more Barcelona player on the list of winners, after youth squad players Messi, Cesc Fàbregas and Gavi on a list that also includes Pedri.
Lamine succeeds Jude Bellingham in the list of winners. The difference, however, is that he's only 17 years old in a competition that is open to players aged 18, 19, 20 and 21.
The list of finalists was made up of 100 under-21 players, which was later reduced to 50 and finally to 25.
Lamine won the Youngest Boy award last year, the younger brother of the Golden Boy. He was awarded for being the youngest player (16 years old) to make the shortlist.
Based on his progress, everything indicates that Lamine Yamal will win the Golden Boy this year and the next four, although his goals are already clearly set toward the Ballon d'Or.
In addition to Cubarsí, Arda Güler and Endrick, other renown names appear on the shortlist. This includes Garnacho (Manchester United), Valencia's Mosquera, Zaire-Emery (PSG), João Neves (PSG), Savinho (Manchester City), Leny Yoro (Manchester United) and Omorodion (Porto).
Golden Boy 2024 Finalists
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain)
Alejandro Garnacho (M. United/Argentina)
Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG/France)
João Neves (PSG/Portugal)
Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona/Spain)
Jorrel Hato (Ajax/Netherlands)
Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United/England)
Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern/Germany)
Rico Lewis (Manchester City/England)
Savio (Manchester City/Brazil)
Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace/England)
Christian Mosquera (Valencia/Spain)
Kenan Yildiz (Juventus/Türkiye)
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Dortmund/England)
Leny Yoro (Manchester United/France)
Samu Omorodion (Porto/Spain)
Oscar Gloukh (Salzburg/Israel)
Desiree Doue (PSG/France)
Mathys Tel (Bayern/France)
Arda Güler (Real Madrid/Türkiye)
Endrick (Real Madrid/Brazil)
Andreas Schjelderup (Benfica/Norway)
Wilson Odobert (Tottenham/France)
Eliesse Ben Seghir (Monaco/Morocco)
Samuel Mbangula (Juventus/Belgium)