Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
Fearless is one word. Xavi says Yamal is typical of a younger generation who “try everything and fear nothing”. A prime example came on his first 90-minute appearance in the Champions League against Shakhtar on 25 October when he attempted nine take-ons – placing him joint-fifth in the entire competition that week and underlining his impudence on the field. Off it, he has impressed his Spain captain Álvaro Morata with his attitude in the national-team camp: “He’s 16 but seems like 27 or 28… He’s less shy than he appears. He fits in with the group in an easy way and makes jokes. He gets involved.”
“As soon as I got the first ball, I lost all the nerves I had,” Yamal revealed after his La Liga debut in April. He has continued to take things in his stride. After becoming the Spanish top flight’s youngest scorer with a goal against Granada in October, he said: “Being so young, everything I do is a record almost.”
Well, he’s Spain’s youngest player and goalscorer too. He made a scoring debut in a 7-1 victory over Georgia on 8 September aged 16 years and 57 days. He followed up with that aforementioned strike against Cyprus in November.
Actually, not quite. He’s a winger who can play on either flank but prefers to start on the right and come inside on his left foot.
Don’t say that to Xavi. When the comparison was made to the Barcelona coach recently, he said the following: “We don’t do him any favours saying that. It’s true that expectations are huge. The lad, at 16, is playing at a terrific level, and this is very positive. But let’s see about the future. To compare him with Messi... Things haven’t turned out so well for all those players who’ve previously been compared with Messi.”
Hmmm, not exactly. After that Spain win against Cyprus, he featured on the cover of Sport with the two-word headline “Estrella Lamine” – Star Lamine.
Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
Fearless is one word. Xavi says Yamal is typical of a younger generation who “try everything and fear nothing”. A prime example came on his first 90-minute appearance in the Champions League against Shakhtar on 25 October when he attempted nine take-ons – placing him joint-fifth in the entire competition that week and underlining his impudence on the field. Off it, he has impressed his Spain captain Álvaro Morata with his attitude in the national-team camp: “He’s 16 but seems like 27 or 28… He’s less shy than he appears. He fits in with the group in an easy way and makes jokes. He gets involved.”
“As soon as I got the first ball, I lost all the nerves I had,” Yamal revealed after his La Liga debut in April. He has continued to take things in his stride. After becoming the Spanish top flight’s youngest scorer with a goal against Granada in October, he said: “Being so young, everything I do is a record almost.”
Well, he’s Spain’s youngest player and goalscorer too. He made a scoring debut in a 7-1 victory over Georgia on 8 September aged 16 years and 57 days. He followed up with that aforementioned strike against Cyprus in November.
Actually, not quite. He’s a winger who can play on either flank but prefers to start on the right and come inside on his left foot.
Don’t say that to Xavi. When the comparison was made to the Barcelona coach recently, he said the following: “We don’t do him any favours saying that. It’s true that expectations are huge. The lad, at 16, is playing at a terrific level, and this is very positive. But let’s see about the future. To compare him with Messi... Things haven’t turned out so well for all those players who’ve previously been compared with Messi.”
Hmmm, not exactly. After that Spain win against Cyprus, he featured on the cover of Sport with the two-word headline “Estrella Lamine” – Star Lamine.
Club: FC Barcelona
Nationality: Spanish
Position: Winger
Age: Absurdly young
Well, how many 16-year-olds do you know who are playing for the champions of their country and their national team?
Precisely. In fact, he was over two months shy of his 16th birthday, just 15 years and 290 days old, when he came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut against Real Betis in April.
Yes, he is Barcelona’s youngest player and when he made his debut in the Champions League against Antwerp in September, he became the second-youngest player to appear in that competition – aged 16 years and 68 days. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his bow aged 16 years and 18 days back in 2020, was younger.
He’s a local lad. His mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father Morocco, but he’s Catalan born and bred. Barcelona signed him when he was seven and Xavi, seeing his potential, has had him training with the first team since September 2022.
“He has got personality, natural talent, the final pass, he’s strong.” These are just some of the qualities the Barcelona coach cited when discussing the teenage attacker whose agility and dribbling skills mean he presents a serious one-v-one threat to defenders. Check out his goal for Spain against Cyprus in November to see how he wrongfooted the goalkeeper in feigning to shoot – and then left a defender on the floor before scoring.
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