Lamine Yamal, the young Spanish star who promises to rule the soccer world

The first thing that comes to mind when watching Lamine Yamal is neither his impressive football skill nor the aesthetic rhythm with which he dribbles the ball nor his carefully crafted mess of a hairdo, so fashionable among many young Spaniards for a couple of years now. The first thing that comes to mind when watching the young Spaniard play is the fact that he is only 17 years old. That he is not even of age and he is already, at this moment, one of the best players on the planet, both individually and for that intrinsic bravery that characterizes the great players in the decisive moments, where, with the spotlight on them, they perform with talent that decides games and brings their teams closer to glory.

Born to a Moroccan father and a Guinean mother, Yamal was born on July 13, 2007 in the city of Mataró, living a humble childhood in which he never lacked a soccer ball and the constant cheers of those who saw him play. As if he were predestined, the current star of FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team had his first transcendental soccer event even before touching a ball in his existence, when, at just six months old, he was the protagonist of a solidarity calendar of Diario Sport, in which he appeared being bathed by both his mother and the Argentine star Lionel Messi, who by that time was already one of the biggest stars of the Barcelona team that had just won the Champions League with true legends such as Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho.

His first team was CF La Torreta, and from then on he would have a meteoric rise that would take him to La Masía del Barcelona at only seven years old, when the scouts of the blaugrana institution saw a talent as unquestionable as it was exceptional. Since then, in the depths of social networks like YouTube or even Twitter, videos of whom many considered would be the new star of the Catalan club began to be seen, a fact that many users saw as disproportionately hasty when it came to a child.

Debut and glory

Despite this, Yamal's football evolution was explosive enough to make his debut at an age when this writer was still in high school and listening to rock bands while watching Champions League matches on TV. It was on April 29, 2023, at just 15 years of age, that Yamal would be called up by the then Blaugrana coach and club legend, Xavi Hernández, to make his first division start and become the youngest player in history to make his debut for Barcelona. The surprising thing is that, far from showing that kind of natural immaturity in novice youth players that automatically generates both empathy and condescension, Yamal immediately proved to be talented enough to establish himself in the first team, a fact that happened almost immediately, leading him to break records of precocity not only in the Spanish League, but also in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League itself.

His talent, characterized by combining both speed and dribbling and an extraordinary pass as a right winger, made it inevitable that the Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente would call him on September 8, 2023, to the Spanish national team, despite being part of the U-17 team at the time. It was away, in a match against the Georgian national team, where Yamal would not only become the youngest player in history to debut with "La Roja" but also the youngest to score, scoring that cold night in Tbilisi at just 16 years of age.

From that moment on, Yamal's promising career was no longer a promise but a reality, after becoming one of Barcelona's top stars in the 2023/2024 season and displaying authentic exhibitions in stadiums such as Wembley. Playing in stadiums such as the Wanda Metropolitano or the Santiago Bernabéu and being called up for the European Championship in Germany, which, although Spain was one of the contenders, there was some skepticism due to so many young players and the disastrous World Cup in Qatar.

However, Luis de la Fuente's team would end up crowning itself as champion after materializing the best tournament ever played by Spain by not losing a single match and displaying a soccer characterized by relentless attack and fast associative fluency. Such a feat would not have been possible without Yamal, who, along with Rodri and Nico Williams, was the star player of a team that, on its way to the title, defeated three of the top favorites: Germany, France, and England. In these last two matches, Yamal reached his greatest importance as it was in the semifinal and final stages of a tournament as important as the European Championship, scoring an amazing goal against the French and providing an exquisite assist to Williams for Spain's first goal against the English.

From promise to reality

From that moment onwards, Yamal has become an imposing soccer reality, unquestionable enough to not only position him in a top 5 of the best footballers of today but also to get us into inevitable cavilings full of inevitabilities, the most important being: if Yamal has reached such a soccer level before turning 18, what will his ceiling end up being?

Because of what he has shown in the 2024/2025 season, with his performances in the final of the Copa del Rey, in matches against Real Madrid, or in the semifinals against Inter Milan.  Cristiano Ronaldo has managed to consolidate himself as one of the main pillars of what has been the best team of the season, reaching such a status in a time and with a precocity that we have not seen even in players like Messi or Ronaldo himself. Because neither the Portuguese star nor the Argentine star, at 16 or 17 years of age, had shown what the Moroccan-born Spaniard has been exhibiting since his debut.

Obviously, no one can say that the Blaugrana winger will be like either of these two players. Because the teenager from Mataró will not end up being either Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. He will end up being Lamine Yamal, whatever the development and outcome.