Lamine Yamal is once again that player who amazed the entire planet. The young Barça winger, who is still only 18 years old, gave … a new performance during the week in the Copa del Rey against Albacete and has achieved at the beginning of the year the consistency that seemed so far away when he had problems with pubalgia or when his name began to be more linked to news outside the field of play. The ’10’ has once again spoken where he knows how best to do so, on the pitch, and has agreed with Hansi Flick, who at all times has trusted in the maturity of his young star.
And Lamine Yamal’s season has taken many turns and has had moments in which the outside noise ate up all the good that the footballer did on the pitch. That explosion culminated in Barcelona’s visit to the Bernabéu. That day at the end of October, the white fiefdom vented its anger against a player who hours before in the Kings League, along with Ibai Llanos, had said of the eternal rival that “they steal and complain.” Lamine committed this imprudence and, to make matters worse, he played a discreet game against the whites to confirm that, in addition, he was not going through his best moment.
By then they were already waiting for Lamine Yamal. His relationship with Nicki Nicole or his extravagant gangster-themed birthday party and the hiring of people with dwarfism had generated overexposure that put him in the spotlight and generated controversy about the speed at which events in his career were unfolding. That doubt was also seen by Flick, who at the end of September sent a warning to his young star. «He is exceptional, but there are other exceptional players on the team. He is 18 years old and also has to focus on trying hard. It’s not always easy. There comes a point where you reach it with talent, but to go to the next level, one or two more steps, you have to make an effort,” he said before facing PSG at the Camp Nou.
It was then that Flick ‘sat’ Lamine on the couch. The German coach has a wealth of experience, he knows the problems of overexposure and he knows, better than anyone, the excellent talent he has on his hands. The consequence was a conservative treatment, which Flick has carried out in silence to try to understand the head of an 18-year-old player who has touched the sky with his hands and who must mature at a forced pace while the entire planet looks at him with a magnifying glass. “He is learning, we will help him,” said Marcus Sorg, Flick’s assistant, after the controversial visit to the Bernabéu.
The grandfather
«Sometimes I am also the grandfather of footballers. The important thing is that the player can give the best he has. It happens everywhere, when someone is happy, everything goes well, you feel more motivated. It is one of the principles of my philosophy. I like to take care of them. Nobody is above anyone, everyone at the same level,” highlighted the German coach in his press conference prior to the league match against Mallorca.
The media noise affected Lamine Yamal. He also suffered from pubalgia that hindered him in the first months of the competition and added even more controversy when he missed a call-up for the Spanish team. Lamine did it to receive a radiofrequency session and begin a favorable evolution that has led him to the current moment in which he finds himself. Lamine Yamal has recovered his sensations, he has that spark that made him differential and he is decisive in front of the rival goal. This season he has already scored 14 goals and 13 assists in all competitions and is having fun again on the pitch, away from all the tension he had around him. “I’m enjoying this moment and I’m going for more,” he said this Thursday at the Mundo Deportivo newspaper gala. And there is no shortage of reasons to believe in the future.
Lamine Yamal is not the first to receive understanding from Flick, who has become a support for the locker room. Players like Eric García or Frenkie de Jong have emerged after moments of doubt in their game, while others like Raphinha or Araujo have shown affection towards their coach. The Brazilian was the first to support him after a match in which the German appeared devastated, while the Uruguayan thanked him this Tuesday, against Albacete, for the support he has received during his mental health problems. Flick has always been there, lending a hand to his players, and Lamine Yamal is the clearest example of the tact that the former Bayern Munich coach has.
