Pele talked Lamptey up when he was a youngster, who failed to live up to the hype. At the 1991 U-17 World Cup, though, he saw off competition for the Golden Ball from Italy’s Alessandro Del Piero and Argentina’s Juan Veron in 1991. Ghana won the tournament and Aston Villa were impressed enough with Lamptey to sign him from Anderlechtin 1994. He also spent time at Coventry, but then drifted from club to club for the rest of his career.
Ronaldinho was playing at this edition in Egypt, but it was Santamaría who won the Golden Ball.