The rise to stardom within FC Barcelona for 16-year-old Lamine Yamal was no overnight success story. Instead, it was through years of development and hundreds of games for the youth ranks of the Catalan club that the young Spaniard has managed to find his place within the Barcelona first team.
While his official first-team debut for Barcelona came on Matchday 32 against Real Betis last season in La Liga Santander, the 16-year-old has been building up to that moment since all the way back in 2014, when he first joined the youth ranks of FC Barcelona.
According to exclusive statistics provided by Spanish outlet SPORT, Lamine Yamal has played a total of 249 matches for Barcelona across the club’s various age groups, in which he simultaneously managed to score an absurd 357 goals in totality as per the report.
Most of his appearances came for FC Barcelona in the 7-a-side format that the very young, developing stars of La Masia and other La Liga clubs typically compete in. In that particular format, the now 16-year-old has made a total of 151 appearances, while his numbers in the 11-a-side format still remain eclipsed as they come up to 98 official appearances thus far.
During the player’s most prolific year for the young La Masia side under the tutelage of Jordi Font, the 16-year-old managed to score 79 goals for Barcelona in the 7-a-side format across only 32 games, accumulating a goal-scoring average of 2.4 goals per game.
Former assistant to Barcelona first team coach Tito Vilanova and head of the football youth academy that recruited Lamine Yamal at the Pre-Benjamin stage stated that his development was not foreseeable at that point to have such a significant projection, but he did admit that once he advanced, it became much more evident:
“When he (Lamine Yamal) was in the ‘Alevín’ category, I did realize that he would be a different player, very special, a talent of great quality.”
The progression of the player seemingly slowed down when Covid-19 ended up influencing the world of football. Across the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons, Lamine Yamal managed to complete 32 games and score 28 goals. According to SPORT, these numbers would have been much higher had the impact of Covid-19 not been in the picture.
However, he was promoted to the Cadet A side not long after given his already impressive progression within the youth ranks. Following an impressive tally of 20 goals in 32 appearances for Cadet A, the player was promoted even further to the Juvenile A roster of FC Barcelona.
Becoming a top-tier star under the guidance of Oscar Lopez, the player has since finally reached the epitome of football for any hopeful within La Masia; reaching the prestigious first team. The 16-year-old is now seen as a great asset for Xavi Hernandez and his current position within the first team is that of significant importance.
Having played 3 official matches already this season for FC Barcelona and having been particularly influential against Villarreal in Matchday 3 for the first team, the player will look to continue his fine form and cement his position within the first team at an age that has already alarmed the majority of European football.
