A meteorite is loose in Spanish football. A meteorite that has broken precocity records in just four and a half months. Because it has only been that long since Lamine Yamal has been part of the collective imagination. Since she debuted with the Barça first team, on April 29, against Betis, at 15 years old. The youngest Blaugrana to play in a League game. It could have been an anecdotal situation but it is no longer. A starter in the last matches with Barcelona, on Friday he debuted with the Spanish team, at 16 years and 57 days old, the youngest to wear the red shirt. Plus, he scored.
He is so precocious that he already surpasses legends of the stature of Pelé or Maradona. Both debuted with Brazil and Argentina also at 16 years old but with more days on their identity cards. At Yamal's age, Messi had not even debuted in a friendly with Barça, much less with the Albiceleste. But almost 20 years after Leo's first day with the Barcelona seniors (in November 2003 in Porto) La Masia has brought another promising talent into vogue.
Logically, no one could have predicted it that day in 2014 when he showed up for a test organized by Barça to train its junior and junior teams. Then he was a child who played for CF La Torreta. Isidre Gil, a classic Barcelona scout in the Vallès Oriental, Maresme and Osona area, agreed to the test with Juan Manuel Gascón, coordinator of the Vallesano club. Under the gaze of Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira, Barça's youth football directors at that time, Lamine Yamal excelled with a hat trick. She was 7 years old and she passed the exam with flying colors. Barcelona decided to incorporate him. Yamal had also taken tests to join Espanyol but opted for the Blaugrana colors. “I perfectly remember how he was. We did two or three rounds of tests and from each test we incorporated a footballer. Lamine ran a little strangely, with his legs twisted, but he scored goals. It was clear that he was one of the good ones of his age although of course we couldn't know if he could be an extraordinary player or not. We had a good view,” he explains to La Vanguardia Altimira. “Those of us who have been following his evolution knew that he had quality but what he is doing at his age is something that is a surprise for everyone. I am happy for all of us who have collaborated within Barça to incorporate and train him,” adds Altimira.
Since then he has been covering stages at breakneck speed, normally playing in teams above his age group. Until the paradox occurred that he was placed under the orders of Xavi Hernández before that of Rafa Márquez, the subsidiary coach. “Xavi or Iniesta established themselves much later, then Messi and Bojan came, who made it younger, then Ansu and Gavi, who once again broke precocity records. And now Lamine Yamal. The generations are increasingly better prepared physically and mentally and to this is added that Barça's economic situation also helps to bet on young people,” Altimira analyzes out loud.
In fact, there is one fact that catches Yamal's attention. He has played more games for Barça in 7-a-side football (151) than in 11-a-side football (98). The teams consist of eleven players starting from children's level, that is, when the children are 12-13 years old. Therefore, in less than a hundred real matches, Lamine Yamal is already rubbing shoulders with the older players. “I would highlight his ability to dribble and see the goal, and also his ability to find free space between the lines, but above all his coolness in the area. It's not normal for a kid her age to be that cold-blooded, not to get nervous in that area. For every ten shots he tries, nine go on goal,” concludes Altimira. Lamine Yamal, quite a sensation.
