Former La Liga star makes major Lamine Yamal prediction – ‘He will be the next Ballon d’Or winner’

On Monday night, Lamine Yamal faced the disappointment of finishing second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings behind former Barcelona teammate and PSG superstar Ousmane Dembele.

The 18-year-old Barça wonderkid had enjoyed a spectacular 2024/25 campaign and was a top candidate for the prize, but Dembele’s UEFA Champions League win with PSG seemingly swayed voters in his favour.

Nonetheless, the fact that he finished second in the rankings, at the tender age of 18, and improved from his eighth-place finish in 2024 is no small achievement.

Marcos Senna backs Lamine Yamal for next Ballon d’Or

Now, former Villarreal and Spain midfielder Marcos Senna has come out and backed Lamine Yamal to get his hands on the Ballon d’Or next season.

“There is no doubt that if Lamine continues on this path, he will be the next Ballon d’Or winner,” said Senna, as quoted by SPORT.

Continuing, he stressed: “He is a player who is totally different from the rest. His period as a promising youngster lasted very little time. Lamine is going to win many more Ballon d’Or awards.”

Future Ballon d’Or winner. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Senna did acknowledge that Dembele was a deserved winner himself, but further reiterated that Lamine has what it takes to win many more Ballon d’Or prizes.

“Whoever won, whether it was Lamine or Dembele, the award would have been in good hands. But perhaps for this season, for everything he won, it is fair that Dembele received the award. He is a great player and he deserved it,” said Senna.

“Lamine has come close, but he is very young. He has time to achieve more,” the former Villarreal star, who won the UEFA Euro 2008 with Spain, remarked.

Senna also went on to tip Spain as the favourites to win the FIFA World Cup next year, mentioning the presence of players like Lamine, Pedri, and Rodri as key.

“They are the clear favourite because we can highlight not only Rodri and Lamine, but also Pedri, who ranked very high in this Ballon d’Or vote,” he noted.