WHAT HAPPENED? According to Mundo Deportivo, the 16-year-old could be called up by Luis de la Fuente for the upcoming international break ,where Spain are slated to play two Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Cyprus. Yamal has already broken into the first team at Barcelona, and after impressing in pre-season he carried on with his form against Cadiz in La Liga as he become the youngest player to ever feature in the competition.
If Yamal is called up by De La Fuente and gets to feature against Georgia on September 8 then he would become the youngest player ever to appear in a senior Spain international fixture at 16 years, 1 month, 27 days, overtaking his team-mate Gavi, who made his debut at 17 years and 62 days.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Yamal was left out from the Spain U-18 squad by Jose Lana, which gave rise to speculation about his potential senior-team call-up. It is believed that Lana chose to ignore him as he did not want to interrupt his integration with the Barcelona first team under Xavi Hernandez.
AND WHAT’S MORE: Yamal could also play for Morocco, which is his father’s nationality. He could also possibly play for Equatorial Guinea since his mother hails from that country, but he was born in Spain. The Spanish federation acted immediately in the case of Munir after he made his Barcelona debut in 2014 and handed him an international call-up to tie him to Spain. They wanted to do the same with Abde Ezzalzouli but the player opted to represent Morocco.
IN TWO PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT? Yamal will hope to start again when Barcelona lock horns against Villarreal on Sunday in La Liga to further strengthen his case in front of De La Fuente.