Lamine Yamal crowned La Liga's best player after 16-goal, 12-assist season

Lamine Yamal has been named La Liga’s best player for the 2025-2026 season at the LaLiga Annual Awards, recognizing a campaign in which the Barcelona winger scored 16 goals and provided 12 assists, directly contributing to FC Barcelona’s league title.

The 18-year-old Spanish international beat four other finalists: Nicolas Pépé (Villarreal), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Pablo Fornals (Real Betis) and Vedat Muriqi (Mallorca). LaLiga praised Barcelona’s consistency throughout the season, citing Yamal as “one of the main architects of the Catalan team’s impressive statistics.” The Esplugues de Llobregat native succeeds his teammate Raphinha, who won the same award for the 2024-2025 season.

The honor comes at a delicate moment for the player: suffering from a left hamstring injury, Yamal is uncertain for the start of the 2026 World Cup. Spain, defending European champions and among the favorites for the world title, begin their campaign on June 15 against Cape Verde. Coach Luis de la Fuente struck a cautiously optimistic tone in a press conference: “There are still several days, but if things continue as they are, he could be ready by the 15th.”

At 18, Yamal would approach this World Cup as one of the tournament’s most anticipated faces, backed by a club season that has firmly established him among the world’s best players.