The praise concert is almost unanimous. Wherever he passes, Lamine Yamal leaves behind a trail of powder and speechless observers. The new number 10 of Barça is presented as the talent of a generation, the future of world football. However, a discordant voice was raised. And not just any. Questioned by Espn On the phenomenon, Steven Gerrard refused to give in to the ambient euphoria, preferring to put things in perspective. In its own way.
Lamine Yamal? Gerrard prefers to recall Michael Owen
Rather than pouring out on the talent of the Spaniard, the legend of Liverpool immediately left his hat another name: Michael Owen. “I played with him. He was an incredible teenager. So I would say Michael Owen (as the best) ”, he said. And when you relaunch it on the fact that Yamal aims at the Ballon d'Or, Gerrard drives the nail:
“One hunts him, the other has already had it. We must respect the fact that Michael Owen was elected best player in the world. »» A good and due shape. Almost a
“Calm down, small”.
This outing questions. Is it chauvinism, a way of defending a compatriot? Jealousy towards this young talent that captures all the light? Or simply the memory of a player who saw with his own eyes the hatching of another phenomenon? Because it must be recognized, Gerrard's argument is held. Owen was Ballon d'Or in 2001 and marked the spirits at the World 98 at only 18 years old, a feat that Yamal will not be able to reissue, a question of age.
Gerrard about Yamal: “I knew better”
A sterile comparison?
But comparison has its limits. If Owen's precocity is indisputable, her career quickly died. After a failed passage to Real Madrid, he never found his best level again. Yamal still has the whole future ahead of him and has already shone at the Euro, something Owen never did. One might wonder why Gerrard felt obliged to compare. Comparison is not right. He could have greeted the genius of the Spanish without putting him in balance with a past glory.
Basically, this statement says more about Gerrard than on Yamal. It is the reflex of an old one, which reminds the new generation that others, before it, were also wonders. A reminder of humility, perhaps a little clumsy. But one thing is certain: Lamine Yamal now has one more argument to prove that it is unique. And that the only talent that counts is the one written in the present.
