Ali Thameem
In his recent Piece for The Athletic, Spanish legend and former Barcelona Coach Xavi Hernández claimed that Lamine Yamal could be the brightest star in world football for the next two decades.
“We’re looking at a world-class star who could be the best player of his generation”. Xavi, the man who gave Yamal his debut at Barcelona, claims that the teenager is definitely among the top five players in the world at the moment. “The next 15 to 20 years belong to Lamine, if he wants.”
He’s not the typical player Spain produces, says Xavi, one of the greatest midfielder of all time. “He’s a skilful player, we’ve had players like that, of course, but not world stars. (Yamal) could already be among the most decisive players Spain have ever had in their history”.
Xavi recalls the paralls of him being introduced to Lamine Yamal, to how he first met Lionel Messi. People at Barcelona were talking about “this boy”, says Xavi. He says that when Lionel Messi joined, he was told by others that there was this Argentinian who played really well, who stood out and so on. Xavi says it was the same with Lamine Yamal – having heard the lore of a prodigy before even seeing him.
The first time I saw him was in a youth match the club had recorded for us. He was 15 and put in a brilliant performance that day, providing two assists and scoring a goal. He did everything. I thought, ‘B****y hell, we don’t have anyone like this up front’.
– Xavi on Lamine Yamal
Yamal came to join the Barcelona training aged 15, and you could already see something different, something special, says Xavi. He dribbled really well. He made excellent decisions, he rarely made mistakes.
That’s what surprised Xavi the most during the rondo drills, the positional games, and the matches they played with the first team – the fact that Yamal didn’t make a mistake.
The comparisons with Messi were inevitable because the both favors the same position. “He’s left-footed. He cuts inside, creates opportunities for himself and is capable of delivering the final pass, too”, writes Xavi. “There are many similarities with Leo. But I don’t think we’re doing the boy any favours by comparing him to the greatest of all time. It puts extra pressure on him”.
The great thing is that Messi has said he sees himself reflected in Lamine. Messi was asked about it in an interview, “Who do you see as your successor?”, and Messi practically named Lamine Yamal as his heir. “Just imagine how that makes Lamine feel”.
As his former coach, Xavi says there was not much need to talk to Lamine about pressure. He handles it so naturally in a way that’s unusual for someone his age. According to Xavi, in most such cases, the coach is left thinking ‘We need to help this boy, we have to support him’. With Lamine, it’s the other way round. It’s about leaving him to it, not talking to him too much. He handles it very well.
“At 18, he’s playing in a World Cup, and the responsibility doesn’t weigh him down. He’s a guy who, despite the pressure of being a Barca player, wearing the No 10 and shouldering the weight of a national team like Spain, is enjoying himself”.
Yamal is the one player that Spain needed to reach another level, claims Xavi. “Perhaps we’ve been the best at this World Cup in terms of the team as a whole”.
“They have 60, 70, 80 per cent possession. For me, that’s playing good football — having that dominance. But if they don’t have that dominance in a closely-fought match, they’ve got Lamine as their wildcard. We used to have that at Barca with Messi, now Spain have it with Lamine, and that makes them one of the favourites to win this World Cup.”
