It didn’t take long for the La Liga giants to realise they had a special talent in their famous La Masia academy. Yamal’s potential was obvious to everyone, and it was seen as only a matter of time before he made a spectacular breakthrough and followed in the illustrious footsteps of Lionel Messi.
Yamal has regularly broken records, becoming Barca’s youngest debutant in their long and distinguished history. He became a European champion with Spain the day after his 17th birthday and has been on a roll in domestic competition and the Champions League this season.
A Billion Clause
The talented teenager is fast becoming a global superstar, with former sporting director Jordi Cruyff revealing that the first steps in that direction would have been taken sooner if Barca had been able to get a contract in place. The Dutchman, son of Blaugrana legend Johan, told Movistar Plus: “The first time he went to train (with the first team), after five minutes the coach, who was Xavi, looked at us and said ‘this is special’. I wanted to give him his debut earlier, but we didn’t have a contract with the boy, so we had to make sure first that he would be ours for many years. Even the veterans saw that he was different, very difficult to find.”
Barca have now tied Yamal to a contract that includes a €1bn release clause. The Catalans have had to be patient to secure those terms, with the decision taken not to reveal him to the world too early as a rival might have sought to snatch him away without a transfer fee.
