What Lamine Yamal (16) experienced last week is something only a few footballers who don’t play for Real Madrid are able to experience in the legendary Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. When the Spanish super talent was substituted in the international match against Brazil (3:3), the spectators stood up and clapped – of all people for a professional from arch-rivals FC Barcelona! But with his dribbling, his feints, the penalty he took and his goal assist, the teenager with braces amazed everyone in Madrid too. “He played very brilliantly,” praised national coach Luis de la Fuente (62) afterwards.
And not for the first time. Since his professional debut over a year ago, Lamine Yamal has been breaking record after record. April 29, 2023: Yamal becomes the youngest player in Barça history (15 years, nine months, 16 days) in a 4-0 win against Betis. October 8th: youngest goalscorer in league history (16 years, 87 days) in a 2-2 draw in Granada. Since then, the right winger has become, among other things, the youngest double packer in league history as well as Spain’s youngest national player and goalscorer.
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It is already clear: Yamal will be the new face of FC Barcelona. For him, the club (a good one billion euros in debt) is taking an economic risk and recently allegedly rejected a 200 million offer from Paris Saint-Germain.
“Nobody wants to compare him directly with Lionel Messi yet. But when you talk to people from the youth academy ‘La Masia’, they at least say: They haven’t seen someone like Lamine Yamal since Messi,” says Alex Pintanel (39), a Barça reporter since 2017 (currently for ” Relevo): “There are a few things that remind me of Messi. For example, the physical illusions or the impression that the ball is stuck to his foot.” To put it into perspective: Messi only made his debut in Barça’s first team when he was early 17.
One thing is clear: Lamine Yamal is the most striking among the many young stars of recent years (Ansu Fati, Gavi, Pedri). Despite being so young, Yamal single-handedly decides games. He has already scored six goals and seven assists and is sometimes the only really dangerous attacker on the field. “What stands out most when you play against him is how daring and risky his game is,” explains Pepe Bordalás (60). The coach of league rivals Getafe saw Yamal in a 0-0 draw this season. “His first idea is always forward-looking. Who can I stand up to and go one-on-one, how can I form the majority? That’s not normal for such a young player.” And further: “He has so much innate talent. Sometimes you forget that he is a minor.”
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Yamal, the son of a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, grew up in a working-class district of Barcelona and entered the famous La Masia academy at the age of five. Off the pitch he is considered reserved and modest. But he also regularly gives TV interviews after games.
In September, Barça extended his youth contract until 2026. It included an option for the contract to be extended by three years in 2025, when he turns 18. And an exit clause of one billion euros! It was negotiated by star advisor Jorge Mendes (58), who has a close relationship with club president Joan Laporta (61).
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Laporta recently explained the 200 million offer: “We rejected it because we have confidence in the boy and his sporting development. We don’t have the need, we are in the process of economic recovery and are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The vision: With Yamal, Barça can attract more fans to the stadiums in the long term, sell more fan merchandise, sell advertising tours better – and thus earn many times more than the 200 million euros offered.
“People used to say: We’re coming to the stadium to see Messi. Today they come to see Lamine,” says Barça expert Pintanel: “In a survey among fans, I asked whether they would rather accept the 200 million or keep Lamine. Most people wanted to keep him. People are choosing a 16-year-old and against the economic restructuring of their club.”
2024-04-05 11:14:11
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