'Risk that Lamine Yamal would leave Barcelona' - How La Liga giants avoided losing record-shattering teenage wonderkid

Much of Barca’s early work with Yamal relied on trust, with the Liga giants needing to convince the talented youngster that he was in the best place for his ongoing development. The La Masia academy system is famed for producing players that go on to become global superstars.

Yamal is very much treading that path, with comparisons to Lionel Messi having been made since his obvious potential was first spotted. Records have tumbled around the Spain international, with the promise of more to come. Barcelona have moved to ensure that they will be the ones to benefit from current ability and future growth.

Cruyff helped to make that possible, with the son of Barca icon Johan working with Yamal and his family when filling a sporting director post at Camp Nou. He knew that the Catalan giants had the hottest of prospects on their hands.

Fending off rival interest was not easy, with Jordi telling SPORT: "There was a risk that Lamine would leave Barca. We postponed his debut until we had the feeling that we were covered. He is exceptional. To take care of him, there is already the club. I’m not inside anymore."

Cruyff has previously told Movistar Plus of delaying Yamal’s senior debut, which could have been made even earlier if those monitoring his progress in training had got their way: "The first time he went to train [with the first team], after five minutes the coach, who was Xavi, looked at us and said 'this is special'. I wanted to give him his debut sooner, but we didn't have a contract with the boy so we had to first make sure that he was going to be ours for many years. Even the veterans saw that he was something different, very difficult to find."

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There has been no stopping Yamal since he burst onto the scene, with a standing already being taken up among the global elite. He is aware that the Messi comparisons will continue to follow him around, but the intention is to create his own legacy with club and country.

Yamal has said: "I’ve always tried to forge my own path. Of course, Messi is the greatest player in history for me, without a doubt. He’s left-footed, and so am I. He played for Barcelona, and I play for Barcelona. He played as a right winger, and so do I. We definitely have a lot in common, and that’s okay. I just want to carve my own path."

He added on continuously being likened to Argentina GOAT Messi: "He wrote his legendary story, and I hope to have a successful career like his. But more importantly, I want to play football my way, to write my own story, and to make people remember the name Lamine Yamal."

He has done a good job of that, with millions around the world now fully aware of who he is and what he is capable of producing. Yamal has already collected prestigious Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy awards, while becoming the winner of La Liga and European Championship titles. He finished second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote behind eventual winner Ousmane Dembele of Paris Saint-Germain.

The expectation is that Yamal will land a Golden Ball at some stage, with many tipping him to eclipse Messi by securing multiple gongs. His exploits this season will go a long way towards making that recognition possible in 2026, with domestic and continental campaigns at Barca set to be followed by a World Cup finals appearance with Spain next summer.

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