Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has hailed Lamine Yamal as a player who was “born for this,” comparing the Barcelona sensation’s natural talent to that of Lionel Messi.
As La Roja prepare for the World Cup, the manager believes his young winger possesses a rare quality only seen in the game’s true geniuses.
Coming off the back of another successful season with Barcelona that saw him named La Liga’s Player of the Season, Yamal is expected to be the focal point of the Spanish national team this summer.
De la Fuente is confident that the Barcelona winger will not be overawed by the occasion, citing his unique character as a primary reason for his rapid ascent to the top of the global game.
“Lamine was born for this. He has a daring character. Maybe that [pressure] would have overwhelmed you or me. But these guys are special. How many times have we asked of a player: ‘How good was that guy, what happened to him? Why didn’t he make it?’ Because you have to be good at football and a thousand things more,” the coach told The Guardian.
“Lamine was 16 [at the Euros], 18 now, he puts up with a brutal media pressure and makes very few errors. One minute, one mistake, and the focus is on that; that’s not fair.”
De la Fuente believes the winger belongs in an elite category of players blessed with extraordinary talent, he warned against placing the burden of succeeding Messi on the youngster’s shoulders.
Comparisons to the Argentine icon have been made since Yamal broke through at senior level, though the teenager has tried to dismiss such talk.
De la Fuente agrees that Yamal and Messi share a similar gift, believing only a select few possess the innate ability to change the game at such a high level from such a young age.
“Footballers are people of high ability, so intelligent. They are geniuses and then there are those that are touched by God’s wand and there are very few of those. Lamine, Messi…”
A long-forgotten photo of Messi and Yamal surfaced recently, showing a 20-year-old Messi bathing Yamal as a baby for a charity calendar.
“Maybe Messi has picked up lots of babies,” De la Fuente added. “Maybe it’s chance. But for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name. In life I think, everything happens for a reason.”
The Barcelona starlet has been nursing a hamstring injury that sparked fears he might miss the start of the tournament in North America, but the latest reports from the camp suggest a rapid recovery is underway.
