Ex-Barcelona academy chiefs reveal early impressions of teenage prodigy – ‘Wow, this kid is different!’

Speaking in an interview with Mundo Deportivo, Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira, the former academy managers at FC Barcelona, have hailed Lamine Yamal as one of the best players in the world while revealing how his signing at La Masia materialised.

Roura and Altimira are responsible for the signings of some of La Masia’s most exciting talents who have become part of the first-team setup in recent years such as Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Hector Fort, Marc Casado, and Marc Bernal.

This is how Yamal was signed

The duo discussed how they ensured that Barcelona beat Real Madrid and others to Gavi’s signing in the interview, while also revealing their early impressions of Yamal.

“He came for a trial when he was six years old. He was skinny, he was little, he walked funny…. In that game there were 20 kids chasing a ball. It was crazy,” they revealed.

“But every now and then, this kid with a strange look would do things that made you say: ‘Wow, this kid is different!”

Continuing, the former Barcelona academy managers added: “The first feeling was one of scepticism but we quickly realised that this player was a different story.

“We would sit and watch the game at the Ciutat Esportiva and we would say: ‘Now he has to go there’. And he would come up with something different and do it well.”

Praise for Yamal

Roura and Altimira then went on to hail Yamal as a special player and one of the best in the world while also talking about him being compared to Lionel Messi.

“He is a very special player. He is one of the best players in the world today. He seems to be able to withstand the pressure, let’s hope he keeps it up, because he’s being compared to Leo and that’s a big word,” they said.

“He is in a team with a great future, they know each other and he is well surrounded. This is very important for him. The most important thing is that he doesn’t go crazy, that you don’t see anything strange in him.

“His head is in the right place and his behaviour is going well at the moment.”