Lamine Yamal is Barcelona’s great hope after his brilliant performance for Spain – they need him more than ever

When I saw Lamine Yamal at the European Championships this summer, I almost forgot how old he is.

The Spain and Barcelona winger turned 17 the day before the final against England on July 14, but the talent and intelligence he showed while playing under so much expectation was unbecoming of a teenager.

Most players in Yamal’s position would probably be swept away by their newfound fame. Not Yamal, who said during the tournament, “I have only one friend; and my cousin, who is also my friend.”

People close to Yamal, who asked not to be named to protect their relationships, say it’s been amazing how he’s handled the storm around him this summer, helping Spain’s seniors win their first major trophy since the all-conquering 2008-12 generation. Barcelona have been equally surprised by his ability to handle it all and still keep his feet on the ground.

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In the final stages of last season and also with the national team in Germany, he led by example on the pitch, making calming gestures, encouraging the fans and carrying the team through difficult moments — such as when he levelled Spain with France in the semi-finals of the European Championship with a stunning strike that made him the youngest goalscorer in the history of the competition at 16 years and 362 days.

Barca fans are understandably excited. But then he opens his mouth to laugh and you see his braces. And then you hear him talking in an interview — say, with fellow Spanish winger and now Barcelona transfer target Nico Williams, where he says “Bro” every other word — and you remember he’s a kid.

¿🪨📰✂️? ¡¡It is “𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘀” if you de sitio donde sentarse!!@willliamsssnico y Lamine Yamal is one of the ‘padre’ de quién, his juegos, bailes…

🤪 ¡¡Vaya dos cracks is a juntar in la @SEFutbol!!https://t.co/07axI2Bsyf#VamosEspaña | #EURO2024 photo.twitter.com/FmFlZTfbWL

— Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) July 2, 2024

Those fans have been bereft of hope for years. Barcelona are still struggling with the effects of a historic €1 billion ($1.1 billion; £840 million) debt and have suffered numerous setbacks on the pitch since they last won the Champions League in 2015.

There were traumatic defeats in European competition and the even more traumatic departure of great Lionel Messi after his almost 20-year association with the Catalan club.

Since then, several attempts have been made to make fans laugh again, but none have lasted.

Ansu Fati was seen as Messi’s successor after playing with the Argentine, but he suffered from multiple serious injuries and was never quite the same when he returned to the pitch. The now 21-year-old is lacking in confidence and returned to Barca this summer after a disappointing season on loan at Brighton in the Premier League. New head coach Hansi Flick likes Fati and he will be given the chance to prove himself in pre-season, but Barca would sell the winger if they received a good offer.

Fati trains with Barca coach Flick this month (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Xavi, a club legend from his playing days, was brought back to Camp Nou as head coach in 2021. Fans celebrated the return of the former Spain midfielder, who led Barca to a title, their first since the Messi era, in the 2022-23 season. But a lack of consistency and an underwhelming style of play led to another traumatic departure last season — after a series of turnarounds.

Big signings have often failed to impress. Barca brought forward the arrival of Brazilian striker Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense in his home country to January for €30 million, but he scored twice in 16 games. He scored those goals in the number 19 shirt, but that number has now been given to Yamal.

So it’s not hard to understand why Yamal’s rise gave Barça fans so much hope.

Sources at the club, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, had long promised that there was a “brilliant” player emerging from their La Masia academy, the likes of which they had not seen since Messi. That player, Yamal, made his first-team debut at the age of 15 years and 290 days in April last year, becoming the club’s youngest ever La Liga player.

Yamal’s talent would have made him a star anyway, but Barcelona fans have also been swept up in their desire to find their ‘New Messi’. This was reinforced by the emergence of photos, now viral, of Messi with a baby Yamal in December 2007, fuelling the feeling that the child really was the ‘chosen one’.

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But the experiences of Fati and other youngsters at the club show why they can’t take too many risks. In recent years, midfielders Pedri and Gavi have suffered long-term injuries after being relied on. Further back, Israeli forward Gai Assulin was compared to Messi after coming through the ranks of La Masia into the Pep Guardiola-led B-team, but has gone on to play for 13 clubs and recently appeared in Gerard Pique’s Kings League seven-a-side football project.

Barcelona learned a lot from those experiences.

They limited Yamal’s playing time last season – he started 30 of the 51 games in all competitions he featured in. They also agreed that he would play in just one of two international tournaments this summer, choosing the European Championships over the Olympics, in a bid to avoid the situation that saw an 18-year-old Pedri forced into the first team at the end of his debut season. The midfielder made 73 appearances for club and country in 2020-21, including representing Spain at both the European Championships and the Olympics.

Yamal is already an important player for Barca (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

But talent like Yamal’s is also unstoppable, and he is already a key player for Barcelona, ​​as he is for Spain. He is expected to become Flick’s starting right winger next season, although the club will continue to keep a close eye on him when matches resume next month.

Previous La Masia hopes, such as former Stoke City striker Bojan, have spoken of the pressure they felt at Barca. But that external noise doesn’t seem to bother Yamal. Just consider what Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon said about the build-up to the Euro 2016 clincher against England in Berlin this month.

“Before the final I was nervous on the bus and he and Nico (who turned 22 this month) were dancing and enjoying every moment,” said Simon, 27.

That’s what makes Yamal such an infectious personality. And he’s seen as one of Barca’s “indispensable” players — club president Joan Laporta claimed in an interview in March that they had rejected a €200 million offer for their brightest young star. Last October, he signed a contract extension that increased his buyout fee to €1 billion.

After watching arch-rivals Real Madrid win the La Liga Champions League twice last season, Yamal’s brilliant performances came at just the right time.

Barça needs his talent more than ever.

(Top photo: Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua via Getty Images)