The phenomenon of Lamine Yamal: Barcelona’s young hope

How normal is it for a mere teenager to cause waves in football, nay any sport? To take this a step further, is it really ordinary for the young player to be in conversations for the best player in the world?

Barcelona’s 17-year-old teenage phenom Lamine Yamal says yes to both.

The new era under Hansi Flick is up and running at Barcelona thanks to no small part in the incredible influx of talents through La Masia.

Pau Cubarsi, Marc Bernal, Marc Casado, and Sergi Dominguez have all settled in and evidently made an impact on the team, but Lamine Yamal stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

While his talent is obvious and there for all to see and enjoy, it is the ridiculous consistency with which Yamal performs for club and country.

When Barcelona demolished Girona in a ruthless 4-1 win earlier this month, exacting revenge for last season’s defeat with a seasoned team performance, it was actually Yamal who ran the show. Bagging a brace for his troubles.

To follow up that exceptional performance, the youngster scored a stunning goal under the bright lights of the UEFA Champions League against Monaco to rescue Barcelona from a tricky situation. Albeit in vein, Yamal’s stocks only continued to rise.

It was followed by another top-notch display in the 5-1 win over Villarreal, while he scored another fine goal in a losing cause against Osasuna.

For a teenage kid with braces, what he has already achieved in his young career, what he is currently doing week-in-week-out, and continues to do, is simply unprecedented.

To witness his emergence is truly a blessing for the Barcelona supporters, and one that is undoubtedly propelling the club to greater heights.

The rise

Lamine Yamal is as ‘homegrown’ as they come. Born and brought up in Barcelona itself, the soon-to-be sensation was scouted and signed by the club back in 2014 at the tender age of seven.

The rest of his development can only be defined as ‘meteoric’.

In the few years he had been at La Masia, Yamal progressed rapidly through the youth ranks, finding himself with the Juvenil A or the U-19 team for the 2022-23 season, being the youngest recruit at fifteen (!) years of age.

That season, Yamal’s story had begun to be seen. It was Xavi Hernandez’s first full season in charge and the youngster’s brilliance at the youth stages meant he was being considered for a shot in the senior team.

Throughout that title-winning season, Yamal established his credentials as a breakthrough prospect, finding himself included in the training sessions with the first team all while blowing opponents away for the U-19s.

As an impressed Jordi Cruyff noted, Xavi was so impressed by what he had seen the 15-year-old do in mere five minutes of training, that he couldn’t wait to give Yamal a chance amongst the big boys. Much sooner than it came about.

The fans were made to wait for it to happen, but Yamal was finally handed his senior debut by Xavi in April of 2023 during an emphatic 4-0 win over Real Betis in a league-winning coronation match for the Blaugrana.

At the time, the world had only come to know about a literal kid given his debut for Barcelona, little did anyone know what he would go on to achieve.

The ascension

Ousmane Dembele’s departure in 2023 the following season meant Barcelona lost a source of creativity and agility in the offensive third.

With Raphinha not exactly the like-for-like replacement either for the gifts of the departed Frenchman, Lamine Yamal was called up to become a first-team regular on the right wing.

It is fair to say, he hasn’t looked back since. The tale of this 16-year-old boy from the local streets of Barcelona was about to take flight.

Only in his second appearance for the club, Yamal bagged two assists in a crazy win over Villarreal, a man-of-the-match performance which established his spot in the squad for good.

As the season went on, it became clear that Yamal’s profile and influence in the team was invaluable. So much so that, he displaced Raphinha from his natural position and forced the coach to fit the Brazilian on the left, a move that still reigns supreme to this day.

Credit to him, Yamal has repaid that faith in heaps. When the going gets tough, the team actively looks up to the prodigy for solutions.

There have been occasions when Yamal has carried the team on his back, conjured magic out of thin air and bailed out his team. At 17, he is already stacked with the ‘clutch’ genes.

The Spaniard made 50 appearances for the senior team even while being still registered with the B team. Although he did not register a ton of goals and assists, Yamal was Barcelona’s biggest offensive threat, a creative outlet with mazy agility and an incredible eye for a pass.

At such a tender age, his game is astonishingly complete. Yamal picks up the ball on the right flank and constantly looks to induce chaos for the opposition. He would either drive towards the defence or around them or play defence-splitting passes like a hot knife through butter.

Not to forget his signature move, the ‘Yamal Cross’. He would simply open up his body whilst receiving the ball and put in a gem of a whipped cross into the box with a sniper’s accuracy. Recently, he has shown the ability to pull a fifty-yard ‘trivela’ pass too.

With the array of tricks in his armoury, there is simply no way to stop the machine that is Yamal.

Moreover, young players often find themselves being too eager when they are called upon to deliver. Not Yamal. He is not a regular young player after all.

Yamal exudes a certain maturity – when to play the final ball and when to retain possession – a quality that not only raw talents but seasoned players simply don’t possess. It is also why many fans consider Yamal to be an upgrade to his predecessor on the right wing in Dembele.

To think how the teenager ascended to the first-team setup without even kicking a ball with the second team is a testament to his talent.

Yamal’s emergence also meant breaking multiple records as it happened.

For starters, Yamal became the youngest goalscorer in all three domestic competitions- La Liga, Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey.

Even some continental records were now held by the budding star. While he was the second youngest player to feature in UEFA Champions League history, he etched his name as the youngest to play in the knockout phases of the tournament and bag an assist (vs PSG in the quarterfinal).

After a breakout season with his boyhood club Barcelona, where Yamal firmly became an undisputed starter and bedazzled the viewers with his magical talent, he was called up to the Spanish national team for the European Championship in Germany in the summer.

Staking a claim

If Lamine Yamal’s performances for Barcelona were hugely impactful in addition to being wildly entertaining, his game went up a notch for his national team, Spain.

While the La Masia gem had already been included in the La Roja setup under Luis de la Fuente before, thanks to his brilliance at club level, it was at the Euros where the menacing teenager took the world by storm.

Part of a talented national team, Lamine Yamal put on a spectacle of a show in Germany. Picking up where he left off, the 17-year-old was at the forefront and the talisman of Spain’s offensive manoeuvers.

The teenager formed an almost telepathic partnership with his fellow countryman on the left-wing Nico Williams, which spelt doom for any team that came their way, blowing them away for fun and scoring goals at will.

Already a European champion. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Such devastating was the effect the duo had on the pitch, that Barcelona tried to acquire the latter’s signature this summer in an attempt to re-create the same dynamic.

It once again speaks highly of Barcelona’s teenage sensation, where the club is looking to build the team around him. Perhaps rightly so.

In that summer of emergence, Lamine Yamal won the Euros with Spain, becoming the youngest to do so. Not only that, Yamal was also crowned the ‘Young Player of the Tournament’, picking up four assists and a goal.

Yamal couldn’t stop breaking records for the national team either. Called up for the Euro Qualifiers as well earlier in the season, at the age of 16 years he became the youngest player and goalscorer for Spain. He also became the youngest goalscorer in a Euro qualifying match in the process.

Come the Euros, the records fell to his feet like dominoes. He became the youngest player to feature in the tournament, to provide an assist (against Croatia) and to play in the knockout phase.

Consequently, it was only a matter of time before he became the youngest goal scorer as well. His breathtaking goal against France in the semifinal, a beautiful curler from outside the box, assigned the record to his name and deservedly won the ‘Goal of the Tournament’.

Even in the final against England, Yamal bagged an assist that rewrote history and made some of his own. He became the youngest to register a goal-involvement in a major tournament final and the joint holder for the most assists in a single Euro tournament.

With a plethora of records to his name, the Euros win launched Yamal into a different orbit. Now, the world had become aware of the might and talent of this phenomenal young star, that could only mean great things for Barcelona.

The future is now

Looking at Lamine Yamal, it is rather pointless to talk about what the future holds for the talent. He is the future and he is living it in the present.

Yamal’s exceptional, glittering displays for club and country as well as with unprecedented consistency, make him a worthy candidate for individual accolades of recognition such as the Ballon d’Or in the future.

He has already won ‘The Youngest’ award last year, dedicated solely to Yamal for being the youngest on the podium for the Golden Boy, the trophy he is the favourite to win this year.

Yamal is also tipped to be conferred with the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best young player in the world during the Ballon D’or ceremony.

All in all, Yamal is set to define a decade and some more for Barcelona and more importantly, football. He has the talent and the mentality to succeed at the highest level for years to come.

The roads ahead point towards one laden with gold. For Barcelona foremost, he has been the talismanic figure the club needed in a difficult time both on and off the field. The one who could lead the club into an era of sustained success.

If the start under Hansi Flick is any indication, Yamal and the team look right on track to turn their fortunes around.

Yamal scores, assists, entertains and excites but something about him inspires hope among the fanbase. For any player, let alone a 17-year-old, it is the highest order of respect one can command.

He even dons the number 19. For a gifted left-footer playing for Barcelona on the right-wing, a reminder of a certain Lionel Messi, it is very hard not to be excited about this teenage sensation.

Lamine Yamal is the flag bearer of this Barcelona team. The leader of the next great Barcelona side. The example for the following generations. And football’s next big superstar.