‘Totally undaunted’ and the world at his feet: Welcome to the era of Lamine Yamal | OneFootball

Already, those around the Spain squad can sense the intent, the will to go for it. Lamine Yamal is described as "totally undaunted".

In his attempt to get fit for Spain's opening World Cup game against Cape Verde on 15 June, however, a special care has been necessary due to the nature of his recent injury from the end of April. A low-end grade two hamstring issue can be mercifully shorter than feared, but also carries a high risk of relapse if not properly managed.

Yamal has so far been responding well, to the point that he looks set to be fit for that first match in Atlanta.

That has come from a careful restraint - including not flying to Mexico from Chattanooga, Tennessee for the friendly against Peru - that Barcelona have insisted on. It also represents quite a difference from absolutely everything else to do with his rise to this moment.

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At 18, Lamine Yamal is already one of the best players in the world as he approaches his first World Cup (Getty Images)

The 18-year-old has already surged through so many expectations, records, levels and ceilings, in the same way he gets through backlines. In that area, there's been no restraint.

Yamal duly offers something we haven’t really seen before. And that isn’t just in the way he beats players in tight spaces, curves through balls with the outside of his foot, or pulls off that unique arched delivery with the inside of it.

The World Cup has never witnessed a mere teenager go in as the best player in the world, expected to seize the tournament.

The competition’s history has of course seen its young revelations, from a 17-year-old Pele setting a template as far back as 1958 to a 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe suggesting his own relentless rise in 2018.

But, as Mbappe’s own dethroned status indicates, that isn’t quite the same thing as where Yamal is now.

He is going in like Pele in 1970, Johan Cruyff in 1974, Roberto Baggio in 1998, Ronaldo in 2002, or even Diego Maradona in 1986.

The Barcelona playmaker is already seen as arguably the best in the world, and is expected to prove it with this tournament; to seize the moment; to properly crown his status.

And the difference with all of those legends - even going through comparable World Cup stars like Lothar Matthaus in 1990 or Romario in 1994 - is that the average age of such players was around 27.

That’s almost a decade older.

The anticipation around Yamal consequently reflects an increasingly younger game, where the physical intensity required for modern pressing systems is better applied by younger bodies.

It’s of course hard not to link that to the very injury that Yamal is recovering from. Such muscle injuries generally tend to come from overuse. Young talents who are still physically developing are now playing more minutes than ever before.

If the world’s best player is supposed to say something more about where the game is at - especially for the barometer reading that a World Cup represents - Yamal may offer it in that sense, too. He articulates the age.

That’s also why there’s a certain trepidation about his tournament, perhaps comparable to Lionel Messi’s fitness for 2014 or even Zinedine Zidane’s in 2002. You can’t quite use the usual World Cup terminology that Yamal is “ready to step up” because he isn’t yet. He’s still getting there.

That injury naturally led to one of those classic World Cup moments of national crisis in Spain, that will be so familiar to English audiences from David Beckham in 2002 and Wayne Rooney in 2006. The hopes of a nation rested on the hamstring of a teenager.

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Spain have been sweating on the forward’s fitness since April but he is expected to be fit for their opening game against Cape Verde (Getty Images)

Radio shows were inviting doctors to analyse the way he fell, and even his walk off the pitch. Football figures within LaLiga clubs were even talking about how they felt a real tension on the morning after his injury, as they waited for Barcelona's official statement with the full diagnosis.

It was mercifully estimated at six weeks, albeit still carrying risk.

The response said a few things about Spanish football, too.

If the World Cup hasn’t seen a teenager go in like this, Spain itself has never had a talent like this. The 2010 winners have had numerous world-class players, especially in recent years, but they haven’t had the outright best in the world.

Sure, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were unlucky to miss out on the Ballon D’Or in the era of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but the country still only has two: Luis Suarez in 1960 and Rodri in 2024.

Even the latter rightly won because of overperformance and influence, rather than being the outright best in the world.

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The left-footed Barcelona star already has a trademark in how he is able to bend the ball with his instep (Getty Images)

Yamal was already being talked of in those terms last year, when he finished second to Ousmane Dembele. He has since admitted that was probably better for his career, and his sense of edge. The Independent meanwhile reported that Inter Milan players, folloowing their 2025 Champions League semi-final, admitted that they felt Yamal was better than Messi at the same age.

That isn’t necessarily to say he will be better than Messi, but it is just Spain’s good fortune that they now have a player of that kind of talent. There’s just that sense he can do things on his own, that he can really make the difference. Barcelona didn’t even have to wait that long for another.

England, for all the talent recently produced, don’t yet have a star on that level.

Yet. In that sense, it’s probably not good fortune at all. This is probably the kind of player you eventually produce when your football culture is right.

Maybe this is what England can hope to look forward to at some point. Another teenager who is essentially a contemporary of Yamal, in Max Dowman, is already being excitedly talked of in similar terms.

He will have to wait for such a moment, though. This might be Yamal’s. You can see why Spain was engulfed in such crisis.

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Yamal’s World Cup will come with expectation as Spain enter as one of the big favourites (Getty Images)

Well, almost all of Spain. Planet Real Madrid still remained concerned with Real Madrid even at that precarious moment. Such solipsism has partly influenced a conspicuous polemic about Yamal, that has involved more questionable debates like those around his character and personality.

Some at Barcelona suspect constant briefings about him.

And while it is true there have been some criticisms of his entourage from those who have worked with them, as well as stories about Yamal’s diligence as regards attending commercial events… it’s too easy to forget this is still just a teenager.

And a teenager with the World Cup now at his feet, and well prepared to carry the weight.

Yamal’s personal background has also brought another dimension to this, since the fact both of his parents were born in Africa reflects a new Spain. That has lamentably attracted more concerning debates, especially amid the rise of the far right in parts of Spain.

Yamal, despite some of the debates about his character, has shown an admirable maturity through related issues. He expressed his fury on social media when Spanish fans at Espanyol’s stadium sang “who doesn’t jump is a Muslim”, not caring what anyone thought.

Much was also made of Yamal holding up a Palestine flag during Barcelona’s title celebrations.

Now, the 18-year-old dreams of the Spanish flag being held up with the World Cup, as was the case at Euro 2024.

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Yamal turned 17 during Spain’s Euro 2024 victory and broke records during the tournament (Getty Images)

Recent injury issues have presented new doubts.

There is nevertheless a possibility that Yamal’s own hamstring problem ends up a positive. After a gruelling two years of constant football, it could give him a rest just before the tournament, and ensure he builds to form for the crucial knock-out stages.

That might be daunting for everyone else.

Yamal might not be fully ready yet, but the will is there. This could the Yamal World Cup. He is totally unfazed by the prospect. Mentally, he's more than ready.