A Look at La Liga
The 'Golden Boy'
Lamine Yamal is something special - and I mean really special, writes columnist Rob Palmer
Rob Palmer. Commentator, ESPN
Malaga
Friday, 6 December 2024, 16:46
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Rob Palmer. Commentator, ESPN
Malaga
Friday, 6 December 2024, 16:46
To paraphrase Monty Python: “He is a messiah, I should know, I’ve followed a few!”
Lamine Yamal is something special - and I mean really special. I’ve been fortunate enough to commentate on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their prime and I’m ... confident that he’s getting to their level. That’s a statement I don’t make lightly!
When Messi was at his most majestic, there was an oft used phrase ‘Messi-dependencia’ - it was rare that the Argentine didn’t feature, so it was harder to measure. It’s easier to measure the dependency on Yamal. I’d argue no team is more reliant on one player than Barcelona with the 17-year-old. They’ve won every La Liga game he’s started and failed to win in the four when he’s not been on the field from kick-off.
Barca minus Yamal is like Manchester City without Rodri or Liverpool without Mo Salah. You can judge it with your own eyes when he skips around the field at breakneck speed or dig into the data.
He’s started 12 La Liga matches. He’s scored five goals and officially assisted on eight occasions. He was credited with just one official assist against Mallorca on his return, yet contributed to four of the five goals. He won a penalty, created another goal with an outrageous outside of the foot pass, started the move for the fourth, and stretched the defence in the lead up to the fifth goal.
There’s been only one league game when Yamal has failed to score or assist - against Getafe.
His captain Raphinha is also having the season of his career. His stats are even more impressive, with 16 goals and 10 assists, but he isn’t as effective when Yamal isn’t on the field with him. Raphinha on one wing and Yamal on the other stretches the opposition and gives teammates dual outlets. It’s a frightening twosome. which has allowed the Brazilian to take his game to a world-class level.
I’d argue that Yamal is already world-class, as he displayed by winning the Euros with Spain in the summer.
The crazy thing is that he has plenty of scope to improve. He’s not taking all the chances he creates for himself. Messi didn’t reach double figures until his third season in the Barça team; it took Cristiano Ronaldo until his fourth campaign to do double digits at Sporting; and Vinícius Júnior took five years to reach double figures at Real Madrid.
The goals will come: he is still a work-in-progress. He’s lucky that he has an intelligent and responsible coach in Hansi Flick. The German would no doubt like him to play every minute of every game, but must resist.
I wouldn’t wish pain or injury on anyone, but the ankle strain and muscle overload he suffered last month was timely. He needed to rest his developing teenage body and also his mind. He’d hardly had a rest since bursting onto the scene for club and country.
He’s already become the youngest player to win the prestigious “Golden Boy” award and the Kopa Trophy, a junior version of the Ballon d’Or.
It’s not an outrageous prediction that he’s already on the list of favourites for the major award in 2025 and many years to follow.
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