Luis de la Fuente’s Ego Could Break Lamine Yamal Forever | OneFootball

“If you can play for Barça, you can play for Spain.” is reportedly what Lamine Yamal heard when he phoned Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente on Thursday. He was asking to be left out of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Bulgaria, citing lingering groin discomfort.

By Friday morning, Yamal was named in La Roja’s squad anyway. Hours later, Barcelona’s medical team published a report confirming his groin issue and announced that their star would be sidelined for two to three weeks, ruling him out of FC Barcelona vs. Sevilla and then El Clásico on October 26.

The tension between FC Barcelona and Luis de la Fuente has been building for weeks, even months, with both sides trading subtle jabs in the press. But this is far from an isolated incident.

The Call-Up Curse

To represent your country in international soccer is every player’s dream. To don the shirt of the nation that raised you is an honor not every player is able to attain.

So when Lamine Yamal was handed his debut in September 2023, at just 16 years old by this very same coach, excitement was sky-high. Here was a La Masia gem, a right winger with Messi-esque flair, not even old enough to drink or drive, but mature enough to wear the badge of La Roja across his heart.

Fast forward two years. Yamal has broken a number of records and won Euro 2024 under De la Fuente. But his 2025 has been a never-ending treadmill of international demands.

In the middle of one of Barcelona’s most physically demanding seasons ever, Yamal still put on the national team shirt for friendlies in March and June. In September, despite a back issue and groin discomfort confirmed by Barcelona, De la Fuente still pushed him through two full 90s, including a 3–0 Serbia win, where Yamal reportedly had to take injections to mask the pain.

Hansi Flick vs. Luis De la Fuente

Hansi Flick is done playing nice. A few months ago, the Barcelona manager commented that communication between both of Lamine’s coaches “left a lot to be desired,” but he hoped for improvement. After September’s injury to Yamal, Flick called out Spain’s “lack of empathy” for ignoring medical advice. And following October’s relapse, he went further, calling the decision “a very reckless act.”

Luis de la Fuente remains unfazed, clinging to his claim that “Jugar con molestias es normal” (“playing with niggles is normal”). When pressed further about calling Lamine Yamal up for the previous window, De la Fuente continued to conjure up statements like

Safe to say, Hansi Flick was not impressed.

Poor Player Management

Lamine Yamal’s recent breakdown isn’t the first time Luis De la Fuente has found himself in a difficult situation regarding managing game time. Another La Masia gem, Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, better known as Gavi, found himself a victim of De la Fuente’s “no rest for stars” ethos.

In November 2023, De la Fuente selected him for a meaningless European Championship qualifier against Georgia, despite Spain having already qualified. Gavi had played every minute of Spain’s previous matches that year and was a starter in 14 of Barcelona’s first 15 La Liga games. A 19-year-old, aggressive midfielder like him could easily have been kept on the bench to give more time to other players like Mikel Merino or Aleix García on that fateful day.

Instead, Gavi started the game and then limped off the pitch just before the 30-minute mark in tears. Tests confirmed a torn ACL that kept him out for nearly ten months.

While De la Fuente is not 100% to blame for the injury, his poor management certainly is. He went on to comment once again that he only started Gavi because he “looked 100% fit” and eager to play. But Gavi is a kid. He’ll never want to miss an opportunity to play. It’s the manager’s job to have the common sense to make that call.

But there is a pattern in the Spanish national team regarding FC Barcelona players that goes far beyond Lamine Yamal or Gavi. Everyone remembers when Pedri broke out in 2020 and ended up playing two summer tournaments for Spain — the Summer Olympics and the European Championship — back-to-back, after having already played a grueling season at club level where he carried the midfield all by himself. He played a total of 73 games that season, at just 19 years old.

A Dangerous Pattern

Luis de la Fuente’s reluctance to rotate young talents is endangering the future of Spanish soccer. Spain is entering, if it hasn’t already, its next golden generation, spearheaded by young, energetic players who don’t know what it’s like to slow down. For their sake, it is the manager’s duty to put speed breakers along their fast lane, nurture them, and make sure they make it to the end.

Luis de la Fuente might be a great coach, a man who has reinvented Spanish soccer by moving it beyond traditional Tiki-Taka and infusing a new identity. He has been coaching the Spanish youth teams since 2013 and has won two trophies with the senior team, but his persistence is pushing Spain’s “golden boy” to the brink of breaking down forever.