Lamine Yamal, the boy who walked Garrell

BarcelonaAt just 18 years old, Lamine Yamal is already considered by the entire world to be one of the best footballers of today, if not the best. His humble background and his roots in the Rocafonda neighborhood have only served to fuel his superstar status. Now, a new anecdote has come to light about the moment the young footballer arrived at Barça: "He walked badly, a bit strangely," explained Jordi Roura, director of La Masia when the Mataró native joined Barça, on Ràdio Igualada. Roura, who was also the assistant coach of the first team during Tito Vilanova's tenure, explained that the Catalan winger had a rather odd gait.

"Some people have something special. When everyone else was chasing the ball, Lamine Yamal wasn't. And when it came to him... Goal," explained Roura, who added that "he understood something." In this way, he praised the instinct of the young player from Rocafonda, who positioned himself on the field from a very young age. In fact, as Inocente Díez, coordinator of CF La Torreta – his first club – explained a few months ago in the newspaper ARA, when he was only six years old and of pre-Benjamin age, the skill he displayed foreshadowed an innate talent. Jordi Roura himself and Jordi Font, who coached Lamine Yamal in Barça's Benjamin A team, had already highlighted these qualities a few months prior. "He was not only very unpredictable and stood out for his technical skills, but also for how he positioned himself and how he looked before receiving the ball," explained Font.