“Making him play is not a whim of his coach.” It was August and Xavi Hernández had to clarify that Lamine Yamal’s participation was not an extravagance of the coach but something deserved by the footballer, who had just turned 16. After half a year, doubts have disappeared due to the boy’s performance. That Barcelona’s young promise is playing no longer sounds like obstinacy but rather necessity. Barça appreciates the emergence of Lamine Yamal, who has already become a solution for the game.
This is what happened in the second half on Saturday in Mendizorroza. Barça found its best argument in Lamine Yamal to start its attacks. The player participated in the origin of the 0-2 and 1-3 and in addition, in the final stretch, he left several individual plays, one with a roulette wheel included, so that his team could shake off the pressure from Alavés. They were elegant drives, with meaningful dribbles, without adorning themselves and always moving forward. “He has the ability to leave players behind that seem like they are in the schoolyard,” admitted García Plaza, coach of the Vitorians.
The youth squad continues to gain prominence despite being a teenager who is not yet physically done. “In the last year he has grown 10 centimeters,” Deco revealed in a recent interview with this newspaper. From August until now it has been 2 cm, to reach 1.80 meters in height. When it comes to your smile, orthodontic braces do not deceive. While Bojan, looking after the young people from the technical secretary, advised him not to forget his academic grades, that he must develop himself as a person. “One of his objectives must be to pass and pass the fourth year of ESO,” he gave him his duties.
Seeing him play like one of the stars of the current Barça, who is not the one from 2010 in terms of talent as Xavi usually remembers, it is easy to forget that he should be in high school or perhaps traveling to Mainz, where the youth team A plays this Tuesday the Youth League. On the other hand, Granada awaits him on Sunday in what could be his sixth consecutive start.
More than a promise, Lamine Yamal, born in 2007, is a reality, a wonderful appearance, leader of a generation that also includes Pau Cubarsí, Héctor Fort and Marc Guiu.
Xavi, who gave him his debut at the age of 15 last year in April, has only increased his confidence in the winger. He has made him participate in the 32 games in which he has been available – he missed the first two rounds of the Cup due to a suspension with the youth team – and he has played 1,658 minutes in his first full season with the first team. The 27 is the tenth most used player: more than João Félix and Raphinha and almost as much as Ferran Torres. A settlement reminiscent of Gavi.
To put it in context, Leo Messi played 25 games and a total of 1,416 minutes in the 2005-06 campaign, the first in which he was fully part of the first team. He was 18 years old, two years older than the current jewel. Injuries prevented him from being in the final in Paris, but his great performance was in the 3-0 win at the Bernabéu. For now, Lamine Yamal was a substitute in the Montjuïc classic and in the Super Cup final. “I coincided with Messi’s beginnings. In the end, it doesn’t matter how old you are if you know how to play football well,” Mark van Bommel, Antwerp coach, compared them. Iniesta, at 19 years old, barely accumulated 800 minutes in his first season with Rijkaard.
In their beginnings, Messi (8), Bojan (12) and Ansu Fati (8) saw more goals than Lamine Yamal, who has three goals at this point and if he scores in the Champions League this year he will become the youngest scorer. precisely surpassing Fati. But his great specialty is imbalance. In the League he is the fifth dribbler, with 40 feints, 22 less than Savinho, which does not prevent him from being the most successful player, because of every 10 times he faces off in 6 he leaves the defender. “Imagine the player he can be in three years,” Ernesto Valverde launched after the great game that was scored in San Mamés in the Cup. Barça, which renewed him until 2026 and shielded him, wants to continue seeing him grow.
