At only 18 years old, he is already the present and above all the future of FC Barcelona. Lamine Yamal, with his precocious talent and his disconcerting dribbles, embodies the great hope of an entire Catalan people. He shattered all records for precocity, becoming indispensable for both club and Spanish selection. Aware of holding a diamond in the rough, Barça reinforced its contract with a clause worth one billion euros. But if the player’s talent is undeniable, another aspect of his personality is starting to cause serious internal concern.
The ghost of Neymar hovers over Lamine Yamal
The word is being released in the corridors of the club: the managers fear that Lamine Yamal is in the process of being “Neymarized”. According to media information OkDiarioconcern grows in the face of the admiration that the young player has for the club’s former Brazilian star. Barça would take a very dim view that its nugget “mimics a lot of things the Brazilian did when he was at Barcelona.” One episode in particular triggered the alert: the ten-day trip that Yamal spent last summer in Rio, in the company of Neymar.
What worries Barça is not the flamboyant style of play, but everything that surrounds it. The memory of Neymar’s healthy lifestyle, his entourage and extra-sporting distractions is still a trauma for a club which advocates the values of work and discretion. Barcelona management does not want an encore repeat. The message sent to the young man and those around him is clear: the example to follow is Lionel Messi.
Protect the jewel at all costs
“They ask him to imitate Messi, who has won everything, who is one of the best in history and who is exemplary”specifies journalist Eduardo Inda. It is the model of the perfect antithesis: the professionalism and devotion of the Argentinian against the festive side of the Brazilian. This concern is not new. In the past, Yamal has already been excluded from a gathering of young people from the Spanish selection for an act of indiscipline. A precedent which pushes the club to extreme vigilance.
Barça knows they are playing big. Lamine Yamal is a generational talent, one who must carry the club for the next decade. Seeing him potentially waste his potential for non-sporting reasons is a disaster scenario. The club counts on certain factors, such as the fact that he is Muslim and does not drink alcohol, to help him stay on track. But the battle to influence it has only just begun. Between the professionalism of Messi and the star life of Neymar, Lamine Yamal is at a crossroads.
