Yamal has surged past Harry Kane to claim a narrow favouritism for this month's 2026 Ballon d'Or award in London after scoring three goals in Spain's first two matches of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League, opening the scoring within two minutes against both England and Croatia.
The World Cup winner has amassed an incredible 11 goals and seven assists in his last eight matches for either Barcelona or Spain, threatening to overshadow the 73 club and international goals that Kane racked up for Bayern Munich in 2025/26.
Kane was an undisputed Ballon d'Or favourite prior to the World Cup after recording the second-best goalscoring season in football history, behind Lionel Messi's 82 from 69 matches for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011/12.
One man not at all surprised by Yamal's purple patch is former Barcelona under-16s coach Ivan Carrasco, who worked with Yamal during the 2021/22 season, one year before Yamal became Barcelona's youngest first team player in 100 years.
Carrasco told SER Deportivos radio that Yamal's "incredible natural talent" was "very obvious" from the moment he first laid eyes on the then 14-year-old.
"Everyone who worked closely with Lamine knew he had a lot of potential, a lot of natural talent," he said. "I think we haven't seen everything he's capable of yet.
"He's still very young, he has a lot to prove, even though he's already leading a team as important as FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, at just 18 or 19 years old. We still have a lot to see.
"Maybe last season he didn't have the best numbers in the regular league, but he's still in his breakout phase. This seasons numbers are already better than last seasons."
Carrasco also defended Yamal's immensely confident demeanour, which continues to divide opinion across the footballing world.
Comments such as Yamal's declaration last month that he "deserves" the Ballon d'Or ahead of Kane and Kylian Mbappe are seen by some as unnecessarily cocky and others as admirably honest and transparent.
Carrasco believes it's just "his natural way of expressing himself".
"He's sincere, honest. He's a person with a very strong character," Carrasco added.
"He knows the talent he has, that he's in the top 1 or top 2 in the world, and he says so openly.
"He's not the type of footballer that people generally accept most readily, a humble footballer like Iniesta or Messi, but this is his way of being."
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
