Lamine Yamal will return to the sports city today to train with Barcelona. She will probably do it by showing her smile with braces, that dental appliance typical of teenagers, that she remembers that despite playing with the first team and being international with the senior Spanish team, she is still 16 years old. In today's session, the footballer will do a recovery session on the field and then also in the gym to check the physical load that he can withstand in Saturday's match against Las Palmas. Despite being a teenager who will turn 17 in July, the winger has managed to break down the wall of age and everyone wants him on his team. Xavi at Barça and coach Luis de la Fuente at senior level.
Even the Santiago Bernabéu crowd gave him a standing ovation when he was substituted after 92 minutes of excellent play against a historic team like Brazil. “I try to play relaxed and not affect what's outside,” said Lamine Yamal, who has matured in every way. Physically he has grown 10 centimeters this year. In terms of football, he seems increasingly comfortable and decisive. He has never been afraid. And mentally it helps him a lot to live at La Masia with teammates who are experiencing a situation similar to his, such as the international Pau Cubarsí, who is also an international player, or the youth players Héctor Fort or Fermín, who are having a great year at Barcelona and in the lower categories of the selection.
Lamine Yamal has scored six goals for Barcelona in all competitions. He has started 20 games and has 2,167 minutes under his belt. In charge of managing his minutes is Xavi Hernández, who takes care of him and pampers him by giving him rest when he accumulates too many starts. In 2023, Lamine Yamal had only had, at most, three starts, but this 2024 he has gained prominence in the team partly due to the loss of Raphinha and, of course, due to his excellent performance. He has started 8 consecutive games. In the national team he made history after making his debut and scoring in the massive 1-7 win over Georgia on matchday 5 of the Euro 2024 qualifiers. He has six games.
The debate on how to manage a 16-year-old boy who is emerging and who helps Barcelona and the national team improve their performance is useful. The Blaugrana club follows a physical and prevention plan for Lamine Yamal to gain muscle mass with the aim of preventing possible injuries. She also has her diet monitored. In the Spanish team they work along the same lines. Sources from the RFEF assure that they are in favor of making the process “natural.” “I hope more come like this,” they add.
Barcelona is very aware of the 2020-2021 season in which Pedri played 73 games, including the European Championship and the Olympic Games. It should be remembered that Pedri then barely completed two weeks of vacation before rejoining the Barcelona team then directed by Ronald Koeman. And the canary, who had never been injured before, paid dearly for the overexertion in the form of muscle discomfort that has been reappearing. In the RFEF they consider that not everything is the result of his minutes in the national team but of the entire team.
To protect its young people, Barcelona wants to ask the RFEF to measure their participation. In short, they will propose that they only compete in the Euro Cup or the Olympic Games. To reinforce their arguments, Barça not only has the precedent of Pedri. Gavi also has the card, who injured his knee in November with the national team and will not be able to play until next year. Currently relations are good between Barça and RFEF. There is a lot of communication and they share physical and nutrition plans. Furthermore, coach Xavi Hernández is a good friend of Albert Luque, current director of the national team, to whom he has already asked for restraint in managing young talents. Regardless of what Xavi decides at the end of the course, he will continue to collaborate in whatever he can to protect young people. What Barça and RFEF do know is that the player has the last word. And, like any athlete, Lamine Yamal likes to compete in everything and for everything.
