WHAT HAPPENED?
Yamal has continued to smash records since stepping out of the famed La Masia youth ranks at 15 years of age. He is now an established star at domestic level, while taking in his first senior international tournament with Spain at Euro 2024 – helping them to the semi-finals of that competition.
WHAT LOPEZ SAID
Obvious comparisons with Barca legend Messi continue to be made as Yamal catches the eye on the grandest of stages, with those that have worked with both happy to admit that another hot prospect appears destined for greatness. Ex-Blaugrana player and coach Oscar Lopez has told Sky Sports: “When you see boys with this talent, you know that at any moment they can take huge steps forward. It happened to me when I was with Messi as a team-mate. I went up to the first team and he was still in Barcelona C, alternating between Barcelona C and the U19s. The club realised that he had innate talent and that he was a player who could take those steps quickly. So, in a month or two months, he was in the first team. He went from Juvenil, Barca C, Barca B and to the first team in three or four months. So, with these very special players, you know that they are going to have a very quick journey through the lower categories.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Lopez added on the excitement surrounding Yamal: “He has an innate talent that you cannot mould. What I mean by this is that he is a boy who is capable of doing things that are not logical, but that end up working out for him because of the talent that he has. Like, for example, when he has a defender on him and he goes inside, as he does with these diagonal runs he makes towards goal… He has a very, very good left foot and he takes the ball from close to the left-sided centre-back towards the right-sided centre-back to shoot… He does it so quickly and he has so much talent that it works out for him. But logic says that for every 10 times you do it, shooting from where the centre-back is located, it will go wrong maybe eight times. But he has so much talent that eight or nine times out of 10 it works out well.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Another former academy coach, Albert Capellas, added on Yamal following in the illustrious footsteps of Barcelona icons: “These kind of players that you can see from the beginning that he will get the chance to play for the first team if he has luck with injuries and his surroundings – people around him – are clever. That is sometimes not easy, but it is like [Andres] Iniesta or Xavi. I don’t like to compare players. I don’t say he is like Iniesta or like Xavi or like Messi because all of them are very different and I don’t like to compare. It is these type of players that you see at a very young age, that you see in front of you a special player, who will make the difference in football.”
WHAT NEXT?
Yamal has already emulated Messi as a La Liga title winner and now has international silverware in his sights, as Spain prepare for a semi-final showdown with France. The youngster will also want to follow Messi by landing Golden Boy and Ballon d’Or honours at some stage in the future.
Source Goal.com
