Being compared to Lionel Messi is never a gift, especially when you are a Barça player. But after seeing his team concede a sublime curling shot into the top corner from young Lamine Yamal, 16, Javier Aguirre, coach of Mallorca, couldn’t help himself: “The first time I saw Leo Messi play was 21 years ago. Got it. Lamine Yamal also looks like this.“The young winger trained at La Masia, the FC Barcelona training center, is even earlier than the Argentine genius, compiling the records of youngest player and youngest scorer in the history of the club.
“When he comes in on his left foot and puts the ball in the top corner, he brings back brief memories of Messi, conceded his coach Xavi, even though he himself was the victim of excessive comparisons with Pep Guardiola when he started in the Blaugrana jersey. But comparisons with Messi do not benefit him. Anyone who has been compared to Messi has come away a loser.“
The Argentinian had waited until he was 17 years and 115 days old to debut in La Liga, when Lamine Yamal – who has the eight-time Golden Ball as his idol – was launched into the deep end at 15 years and 290 days old, on April 29, 2023 .
Arrived at FC Barcelona at seven years old
Almost a year later, he has already made 43 appearances with the first team – for six goals and seven assists – and has become, with the departure of Ousmane Dembélé to Paris Saint-Germain, an indisputable starter for Barça. And La Roja, of which he is obviously also the youngest player and scorer.
“No one could imagine he could do all that, especially at 16, admits Albert Puig Alcaide, coach of Lamine Yamal at La Masia from the ages of 9 to 13. When I saw him at 13, I saw a player far above children of the same age. But I’m surprised that he is capable, at 16, of doing the same things among the professionals.“
However, when he arrived at the Barça training center at the age of seven after having impressed at his club in La Torreta, a suburb of Barcelona, the coach responsible for supervising the trials had doubts about this frail kid.
“He trained with boys who were a year older than himremembers Albert Puig. When I arrived, he took the ball, ran across the field with it and finished by scoring. I turned to my colleague and said to him: ‘What doubts did you have exactly?’”
“He’s a kid who has a lot of confidence in himself, who is not afraid, and that makes the difference in becoming a professional player.”
Albert Puig Alcaide, trainer of Lamine Yamal at FC Barcelonaat franceinfo: sport
If Yamal was not the one who impressed the most during his very young years, Jordi Font, who trained him when he was 10 years old, remembers: “He finished as our season’s top scorer. At each tournament, he finished with the trophies for best player and top scorer.“His move to 11-a-side football allowed his trainers to confirm the hopes placed in him: “From there, we said to ourselves that he could do something serious.“ Going from number 9 to winger, Lamine Yamal was upgraded at the age of 14, before moving to U19 at 15 and immediately making the first team. Without going through Barça B.
Jordi Font explains this lightning progression by “his talent and ability to learn, listen and assimilate“. In addition to his exceptional technical quality and sense of purpose, Albert Puig also cites his intelligence, his mischief and his resourcefulness: “He is able to find solutions quickly in everyday life and on the ground, thanks to his hours spent playing in the street.“Both describe a teenager “normal“, despite “admiration“ that his teammates devote to him, and who does not use his technical superiority to crush them.
“In a normal situation he would still be at La Masia, playing with the U19s or Barça B and the rest of those he grew up with.”
Jordi Font, trainer of Lamine Yamal at FC Barcelonaat franceinfo: sport
The one who, at 16 years old, was given a standing ovation by the entire Santiago-Bernabéu after having obtained two penalties and delivered a decisive pass in the Spanish jersey against Brazil, has always been “very bold” And “likes to take responsibility”.
As when he declared in a daily interview Mundo Deportivo on April 5, before the quarter-final first leg against PSG: “I see a 1-0 victory for Barca, with a goal from me.” At 12 years old, Lamine Yamal was already the one who took the lead when his team was up against the wall in the championship.
A star high school student from Barça
“He went down to midfield to get the ball, I told him to stay in front because the team in front was missing him otherwiserewinds Albert Puig. He told me he knew what he was doing. After crossing the field once alone with the ball, he tried again two minutes later by dribbling everyone and passing the ball to a better placed teammate, who scored. In the most delicate moment, he already wanted to be the one to unblock the situation.”
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His explosion at the very highest level has changed nothing in the daily life of the native of Mataro, a working-class town on the outskirts of Barcelona, who celebrates each of his goals by miming with his fingers the 304, postal code of the Rocafonda district where he grew up. When he is not on the school benches completing his homework between two training sessions, the high school student roams the stands of the training center to see his friends, who are still playing in the categories of his age. Without his emerging notoriety disturbing him.
“When you play at the Barça training center, you participate in many important tournaments, you are followed by a lot of people on social networks, your matches are broadcast on club television… Lamine already had a certain notoriety in football of young people from Catalonia, so this pressure is not new for him.assures Albert Puig.
Leading figure of a rejuvenated Barça, partly because of his financial difficulties which prevent him from recruiting, Lamine Yamal now lives with several of his former teammates among young people. “When the youngsters from La Masia arrive in the first team, they are already used to performing wellnotes Jordi Font. Since they were little, every training session, every match, every tournament has been like the Champions League final for them. Because there are thousands and thousands of children who would dream of being in their situation.”
Although he already has everything he needs to be a great man, all that remains for Lamine Yamal is his braces, his hatred of school and his “youthful carelessness” to remind you that there is nothing normal about seeing FC Barcelona worn by a teenager.