Barcelona and the Spanish Football Federation were at odds last weekend over Lamine Yamal, who suffered a knock during the victory over Denmark. The Catalans demanded that their player be withdrawn from Luis de la Fuente’s squad with immediate effect, and despite initial pushback, he did so, which meant that he missed the win against Serbia on Tuesday.
De la Fuente was not drawn on the matter when he spoke to the public on Saturday, although he did speak glowingly on Lamine Yamal, as per MD. He also provided solid advice for the 17-year-old.
“He is a phenomenon who is already in the top of the world, but he has the most difficult thing left, which is to maintain the position he has. He will achieve it with humility, being normal, professional, hard-working and a good teammate. If he does that, we will remember him a lot – he has the ability, but he has to cultivate it.”
There’s no doubt that Lamine Yamal is already a world class talent, but he still has so much development ahead of him. Barcelona will need to manage him properly, and Spain (and de la Fuente) too.
