At just 18, soccer superstar Lamine Yamal has won more than most players ever do in their entire careers. He’s already a three-time La Liga winner for Barcelona, a European champion with Spain and now, if you ask the bookmakers, he’s highly-tipped to add a World Cup to his trophy cabinet this summer.
It’s an incredible success rate for a player who is set to turn 19 just six days before the final in New Jersey, and it’s a rise through the ranks that’s surprised even those who were first to see the youngster’s talent.
Speaking to CNN Sports, Barcelona youth team coach Marc Serra explained what stood out about the prodigy during a trial game he watched over a decade ago, which was organized by Barça to identify the best talent in the country.
“He came here, and in that very first time of meeting, we saw that he had things that made him stand out from the others, and we decided to bring him in,” Serra says.
“What we saw was that he did things uniquely or differently and, more importantly, it looked like no one had taught him any of that. He basically had just started playing and he was just born with it.
“It was in his genes, or he learned it in the streets, but – whatever it was – he had what other kids didn’t.”
Yamal first arrived at the Catalan giant aged 7, having previously played for his local club La Torreta. He was one of several young boys who joined the club’s famed La Masía academy – a soccer school which has raised some of the best players in recent times, including Lionel Messi.
Serra, who is now Barcelona’s under-7s coordinator, was Yamal’s coach when he was around 10 or 11.
He saw firsthand how much magic the young kid had in his boots, but never predicted he would ever take the sport by storm at such a young age.
In 2023, eight years on from that trial match, Yamal made his debut for the Barcelona first team aged just 15 years, 9 months and 16 days – becoming the youngest player to represent the club in over a century.
But he didn’t just turn up once, he took the opportunity by the scruff of the neck and ran with it. He quickly became the focal point for the team’s attack and made an equally large splash with the national team.
He has since become one of the best players on the planet, able to dominate games with his pace, his trickery and an eye for the spectacular. His passing, in addition to his long-range shooting ability, is possibly his greatest strength. He’s able to create chances out of seemingly nothing, a trait he possessed from the very start of his career.
“He did things on the pitch that to me, as a coach, it was very difficult to believe a 10 or 11-year-old could do,” Serra says, distinctly remembering Yamal’s ability to pass with the outside of his boot.
“Passes that you wouldn’t see, plays that you wouldn’t think of. In the end, he knew more than you. He dreams up things that the rest of us can’t.”
But the fact that he’s been able to translate that ability onto the senior stage, against seasoned professionals, is remarkable even for Serra. Yamal has such a presence on the pitch that it’s easy to forget he’s just a teenager. And he’s so well established that it’s barely believable that he’s still got time to get better.
Bravery combined with skill
Serra puts Yamal’s rapid rise partly down to his mentality. Remembering the young attacker as a “nice” and “happy” boy, the youth team coach also recalls how things changed when he stepped onto the pitch.
He became a competitor, totally fearless and ready to play against whatever the opposition had to throw at him.
“The few times you had to push Lamine a bit were in easier matches or more routine ones,” Serra says.
“But when the hour of truth came – big matches, tournaments – you would say to yourself, he won’t let you down here, you knew he would be at his level. I think he likes challenges.
“I feel lucky to have had him close to me. I think that players like Lamine, of which there are very few, we don’t have much to do with it.
“Simply, we’ve tried to accompany him, tried not to ruin what he is, let him keep flowing and I think in a lot of ways, it’s us who can learn from him.”
The new Messi?
Due to his attacking flair and rise through La Masía, comparisons to Messi began early. In an incredible twist of fate, a then-20-year-old Messi was actually photographed holding Yamal as a baby back in 2007.
But Yamal doesn’t seem phased by the weighty comparison – content on being the best version of himself, and not worrying about what the rest of the world says.
Serra urges that it’s still too early to predict just how far the Spaniard can go in the sport, but says he just might be able to join Messi as, who he thinks, the greatest player in history.
“The important thing is he plays like he is,” Serra added. “That he keeps enjoying himself like he has been until now.
“If he manages to be at that level and to keep growing from now until 12 or 13 years from now, we’ll be talking about Lamine as one of the best ever.
“But he’s still young, we also shouldn’t put too much pressure on him. We just have to let him do what he likes on the pitch, to enjoy himself, because if that’s what happens, I’m sure he will keep getting better.”
World Cup concerns
Yamal will be one of the key figures in the World Cup, where he’ll lead Spain as one of the tournament favorites.
But the youngster is a slight injury concern heading into the group stages, after missing the end of Barcelona’s club season with a hamstring injury.
He didn’t feature in any of Spain’s warm-up matches before kickoff in North America, but is expected to be fit enough to play some part in the campaign. In truth, La Roja has enough talent in their squad should they want to rest their star for a little longer.
Spain faces Cape Verde in its first match of the tournament on Monday, in a game it is expected to win by a large margin.
“The bigger the challenge, the better he gets and the better it goes for him,” Serra says, predicting Yamal will have a big summer ahead.
“Every day though, Lamine is adding new things. He’s getting better. I don’t think that his potential has been reached. Every day, he’s growing and that’s perhaps what’s most impressive. You don’t see a ceiling to his talent.”
CNN’s Patrick Sung Cuadrado contributed to this feature.
