"If Lamine Yamal had appeared in 2012, perhaps he wouldn't have played for Barça."

BarcelonaFootball always insists on reminding us that it is much more than just results. It also tells stories, creates idols, and establishes a connection with its legends. At Barça, few figures have emerged with such force as Lamine Yamal, a young teenager who has burst onto the scene with the naturalness of a veteran and forced everyone to rethink their mental map. Analyst and commentator Albert Blaya (Manresa, 1997) writes about this phenomenon in the book Lamine Yamal Universe (Ara Llibres), which aims to be a footballing and emotional portrait of what is already one of the figures of Barça's present and future.

"When the publisher suggested I dedicate a book to Lamine, I saw the opportunity to explain not only who he is, but what Barça is, what La Masia is, and what it means to develop a footballer today," explains Blaya, who speaks with determination after having spent months supposedly immersed in witnesses, data, and how far he will go. "Surely not even he knows," she says. "And this is part of the magic," she concludes.

Albert is clear about the main distinguishing feature of the young Barça striker: his surprising maturity. “One of the things that interests me most is how he simplifies football. That phrase before the Champions League semi-final – ‘if they close me down on the left, I’ll go out on the right’ – says more than it seems,” he states. In a context where many young players struggle to express themselves, Lamine Yamal speaks with a naturalness that is surprising given his age: “He has his own message, a very clear idea of ​​how he thinks about the game. This sets him apart from his generation.” If he could ever have a face-to-face conversation with him, Blaya would know exactly what they would do: talk about football, not noise. “I’d like to understand where he gets that Cruyffian way of understanding the game. I don’t know if he’s aware of the message he conveys, but it’s incredibly genuine,” he explains.

One of the book's central themes is the need to separate Lamine Yamal from the memory of Leo Messi, which, depending on how you look at it, can be a burden. "Comparing them is not only unfair, but it can be counterproductive," says Blaya, who sees the Argentinian as "an unrepeatable miracle" and maintains that the player from Mataró is more similar to Neymar. "He himself has said that Neymar is his idol, and that's very evident. He has a certain creativity, a playful style, an improvisational ability... that if he were left-footed, he would be practically a mirror image." In any case, the Manresa-based journalist emphasizes that "if we insist that Lamine Yamal be something he isn't, we will all lose. He won't be Messi or Neymar, but Lamine Yamal."

The day Lamine Yamal stopped being a promise

Blaya chooses the moment that defines Lamine Yamal's sporting trajectory: his first European night against Inter Milan. "That's where he went from being a great hope to being one of the best in the world. The team was losing 0-2, disoriented, and he conjured up a brilliant goal-scoring opportunity. A minute later, he hit the post with a shot that could have been Champions League history." That performance, he says, changed everyone's perception: "From that day on, rivals treated him like what he was: a star."

Despite his meteoric rise, Albert Blaya identifies an area for improvement in Lamine Yamal: his goalscoring. Not his finishing, but his frequency. "Most of Lamine's goals are very difficult: individual plays, long-range shots. To score 30 or 40 goals a season, he'll have to get into the box more, finish off those difficult shots, and not always be the one creating them." Nevertheless, he has complete faith in his progress: "He's 18 years old. It's absurd to think we've already seen his best." It shouldn't be forgotten, in this regard, that the young man from Rocafonda is recovering this year from pubalgia. Blaya also dedicates a chapter to explaining what makes Hansi Flick an ideal coach for player development: "Flick has a virtue that seems almost invisible, but is fundamental: he doesn't limit players. He doesn't spoil them." And he defends a clear idea: the German is a Cruyffian. But he is so in a broad sense—philosophical, not dogmatic. "Cruyff de-victimized Barça. He placed it at the center of his own narrative. Flick arrives after some very difficult years and once again convinces players and fans that anything is possible. In this, he is profoundly Cruyffian." Likewise, although the author acknowledges the structural strength of La Masia because "it provides environment, methodology, and stability," he believes that Lamine Yamal's extraordinary talent is not something anyone invents: "It appears once every 50 years." His emergence, he says, is a combination of talent, context, and opportunity. "What happens if that same player appears in 2012, with Messi at 25? Perhaps it will take us years to see him. Perhaps he wouldn't play for Barça. Timing also matters."

Writing the book has been, for Blaya, a personal journey. "I've learned that development processes are much less linear than we think. That behind every player there is an enormous amount of chance, decisions, coincidences, and resilience." He has also learned to look at football more deeply: "They're not like mushrooms that just appear. There's a huge amount of unseen work. But there are also exceptions that break all the rules. Lamine is one of them." The young winger's future is a blank page, but Blaya is clear that it shouldn't be written with anyone else's ink. "The important thing is that Lamine can forge his own path. Without absurd pressures, without unwarranted comparisons. We are lucky to be living through a historic moment. We have to enjoy it."