The 16-year-old could be the key to saving the Blaugrana's season – and keeping their under-fire manager in a job
Lamine Yamal should have ended his first Barcelona appearance with a goal and an assist. It was April 29, 2023, and the then-15-year-old was chucked into a meaningless game against Real Betis. The Blaugrana were leading 4-0 at the time, and having already sealed the title, Xavi had little to lose in turning to La Masia's latest starlet.
Yamal's impact, though, was near-immediate. He touched the ball 12 times, poked an effort on goal, and played an inch-perfect pass over the top of the Betis defence that Ousmane Dembele should have tucked away. Perhaps understandably, he didn't play another minute in the 2022-23 season – the kid still had to worry about his maths homework, after all. But the impact had ben made, his potential influence known.
Nine months on, and Yamal, still 16, has four goal contributions for Barca. Statistically, he is one of the most effective dribblers in La Liga, while the eye test alone suggests that Barca are simply better when Yamal is strutting, scampering and darting down the right-wing.
And yet Xavi remains reluctant to use him. Instead, Raphinha, Ferran Torres and even Joao Cancelo have been preferred in Yamal's favoured position, and that needs to change. Barca are stumbling to a halt in La Liga, and could squander their most obvious chance at a trophy if they lose to Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Xavi needs to put his best players on the pitch to not only bring success to Catalunya, but also save his own job, and so it's time to let Yamal prove that he can grow into being one of the world's best.
Getty'Nothing like him has been seen'
If there were any doubts about Yamal's potential to be a regular starter in Catalunya, they were swiftly erased in early August. The teenager entered Barca's clash with Tottenham in the Joan Gamper Trophy with 15 minutes remaining and his side losing 2-1 as the Blaugrana turned in the kind of ominous showing that raised questions over Xavi's ability to fire the defending champions up for another title challenge.
In a brief cameo, Yamal offered hope. He assisted Torres for the equaliser, before starting the moves for Barca's third and fourth goals in their comeback win. Yes, this was a glorified friendly between two sides still not yet in the full swing of things, but Yamal proved that he belonged.
The Catalan press, in typically measured fashion, started the hype. In a twist of immense promise and damning expectation, it just so happened that a certain Lionel Messi had enjoyed a similarly electric showing, at the same stadium, in the same rather meaningless game, 18 years previously.
encapsulated the hysteria most effectively in their live blog of the game, claiming that: "since Leo Messi against Juventus in his first Gamper, nothing like him has been seen."
Madness grew from there. Xavi tried to stifle some of the talk around his teenage starlet's performances, but the noise around Yamal multiplied. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente compared him to both Messi and Diego Maradona in a 10-second statement, while former Barca stalwart Rafa Marquez, in his infinite wisdom, likened Yamal to Ronaldinho.
AdvertisementGettyPatience!
Xavi, though, has done his part in tempering such lofty comparisons. In October, he tried to cool the relentless chatter, saying: "I hope Lamine can mark an era [in football], but we are not doing him any favours saying that… Let's see what the future holds without comparing him with Messi. It's not gone that well for all the players that have been compared with Messi in the past."
The manager has backed that up by curtailing the teenager's minutes. Yamal has been in the staring line-up for just 11 of a possible 28 games in all competitions, and has the same number of league starts as the oft-injured Raphinha. Torres, a player who is less effective out wide than he is centrally, has started three games on the right-wing while Yamal has been fit — leaving the promising youngster to watch from the bench.
It has, undoubtedly, been a point of frustration for Barca fans. But for Xavi, the man charged with maintaining the legs of a player who hasn't played a full season of professional football, it seemed the right solution. He has already lost Gavi, still 19, to a torn ACL, while 21-year-old Pedri can barely string a couple of months together without getting hurt. The Barca coach simply cannot have another overused young talent miss chunks of the season through injury.
Getty Images Influential in recent weeks
But as the results have soured, and Barca's performances have dropped off, Yamal's positive influence has become clearer. On Sunday against Betis, Xavi handed the winger his first La Liga start since November 25, and Barca were better for it. Yamal created three chances, completed five dribbles, and grabbed himself an assist as the Blaugrana turned it on in the dying minutes to win 4-2.
That is no new trend, though. Yamal has been an impact substitute for months — offering a series of valuable cameos to give Barca an injection of quality in the dying phases of games. It's something his manager has noticed, too.
“I would ask Lamine to do more of the same: play with courage, confidence, show his talent and quality. He is young but he won’t feel the weight of the occasion because he has enough confidence to make a difference in a game like this, even as a teenager," Xavi said last week.
He did just that in Barca unsuccessful showing in the Spanish Supercopa final. Barca were dire for an hour against Real Madrid, and only really improved when Yamal entered the fray. He teased Ferland Mendy, found neat angles to feed Robert Lewandowski, and linked up well with Ilkay Gundogan. His team may have been on the wrong end of the result, but that was no fault of the teenager's.
Getty ImagesLewandowski in decline
Yamal's emergence has come at the right time, too, as Barca have a real Lewandowski problem. The Poland striker, the architect of last season's La Liga success, has seen his goals plummet. He has scored just eight times in 18 league appearances this season, a significant drop off from the 23 he bagged last term.
Look more broadly, and things get even more concerning. Lewandowski bagged 18 goals in 37 league appearances in 2023 — averaging just under a goal ever other game. In his last three campaigns at Bayern Munich, he was bagging at least one per game. His goals-to-expected-goals ratio, minus 1.6, is his worst in years. Add the fact that he's 35, and Barca are now in possession of an ageing striker whose career is going the wrong way.
Xavi has made some moves that suggest he knows Lewandowski's best days are behind him. According to reports in the Spanish press, the Barca boss "raged" at his star man at half-time of Barca's win over Almeria just before the winter break. Since then, he has cut Lewandowski's minutes. He played just over 70 against Las Palmas on January 4, and 62 in the win over Betis.
The arrival of Brazilian teenager Vitor Roque alone paints a picture of a club already preparing for a post-Lewandowski world. They might just be facing it sooner than expected, and Yamal can certainly step up and help fill the void.