Although the results have not always gone in their favor, FC Barcelona fans still have a lot of reasons to remember the current season with affection. One of the most notable of these reasons is the way in which some of the youth talents have broken out with the first team.
No one showcases this explosion of young talent in the team like the winger Lamine Yamal. The Spaniard has been impressive throughout the season, and the win over Mallorca last night was the latest chapter that he wrote in his Barcelona epic.
He scored the only goal of the night, and the way in which he scored this goal left most of the spectators in the stands speechless.
This performance should naturally have been a source of pride and happiness for Barcelona fans, but Culers are already getting pessimistic about his future because of how other previous players with great potential have fared.
In this regard, the one player that Barcelona fans have in mind is Ansu Fati. Currently on loan in England with Brighton and Hove Albion, Fati had also raised a lot of hopes at the Camp Nou, as the Blaugranes thought that they had found Lionel Messi’s successor.
However, injuries took a heavy toll on Fati, who was unable to reach the heights expected of him in recent years. Owing to these fears, SPORT notes that Barcelona, and especially Xavi, seem to have taken an approach to protect Yamal from the fate that Fati had to face.
This was clear from Xavi’s comments after the match when he was asked for a response to the Mallorca coach’s comments comparing Yamal to Messi. Answering this question, Xavi said:
“Any player who has been compared to Messi has come out on the losing end. It’s not good to compare him to Messi. It’s true that he has some similarities. He’s a lefty, he cuts inside and nails it inside. But at his age, he’s already making differences for us. He and Cubarsí could make an era in the club.”
More than anyone else, Xavi will know just how big of a talent he has in his hands with Lamine Yamal. However, it also needs to be understood here that at only 16 years of age, the youngster cannot be invested with so much responsibility that leads to him burning out before actually reaching the heights that he is expected to.
In this regard, Barcelona already have lessons from the Ansu Fati case to guide them, and the Blaugranes need to ensure that they take full advantage of these lessons to allow Yamal to reach the heights that he is meant to reach.
