Lamine Yamal, a new star appears in the skies of football; he is ...

Modern football is producing stars at a very young age. The latest sensation is Lamine Yamal who at the tender age of 16 represented Spain when it played against Croatia and won 3-0. Yamal played a stellar role in that victory. He may remind us Indians of Sachin Tendulkar who had also made his international debut at the age of 16 against Pakistan in 1989.

How far will he go in his career? Lake Sachin will Lamine Yamal be considered the God of football one day? Nobody can predict what may happen in the future but the young Lamine has all the required skills to reach the very top of the world of football.

His full name is Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana. He was born on 13th July 2007 to African parents. His father Mounir Nasraoui is from Morocco and his mother Sheila Ebana from Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. The couple was living in Spain when Lamine Yamal was born and so the lad is Spanish by birth. Like Tendulkar, his skills too began showing up very early in life.

During his childhood, he grew up in Granollers which is a city in the Catalonian region of Spain known mainly for its textile industry. It is also the hometown of some of Spain’s most outstanding footballers. Little Lamine grew up watching football, worshiping its heroes, and playing the game with friends in the streets of Granollers.

When he was seven years old, his family moved to the bigger city of Barcelona and his love affair with football increased in intensity. He joined the Barcelona football club’s youth academy called La Masia and his career took off from there. The great Lionel Messi was a trainee of this academy and so too were legends such as Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.

In fact, it was Xavi who had become a coach and it was he who selected Lamine to train with the club’s senior team along with a few other youngsters in September 2022. He was the trainee who most impressed the famous coach. Xavi has represented Spain in the Olympics, three FIFA World Cups and three European championships. With all his experience, Xavi could spot talent when he saw it and he picked up Lamine for special development.

Like Ramakant Achrekar had guided the raw talent of Sachin Tendulkar, it was Xavi Hernandez who developed and fashioned Lamine Yamal from an innocent young lad into a goal-hungry predator. The junior player blossomed into a more complete player and his mental instincts were honed to complement his physical skills.

Last year Lamine made his debut for Barcelona club’s senior team when he was only 15 years, 9 months and 16 days old. A few months later when the Barcelona club won the prestigious La Liga title, Lamine was a proud member of the team.

Like Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, and many superstars, Lamine too is a left-footed forward with excellent dribbling, passing, and chance-creating abilities. He can play as a centre forward or an attacking midfielder. His versatility gives his coaches more options.

In the 2024 Euro Cup match against Croatia, Lamine was up against far more experienced opponents such as Luka Modric, one of the great names of football. But the way Lamine danced his way around the burly rivals and stunned onlookers. It was Lamine’s perfect pass that enabled teammate Dani Carvajal to score Spain’s third goal.

According to a BBC article, journalist Jaume Marcet: “The most brutal display I have seen in grassroots football was from Lamine in the final of the Catalunya cadet tournament. I had seen Messi perform but never somebody like Lamine. That day he did everything.” So we may be seeing the birth of a great star. Football lovers of the world should keep an eye on this young lad from Spain.