In the Soccer City of Las Rozas the video spread through mobile phones for the morning of Saturday, October 11. The team began the trip to Elche, where that same night they played against Georgia, after not being able to travel on Friday due to the rain. In the images, published on Instagram by the Argentine singer Nicki Nicoleshe and her boyfriend were seen taking a helicopter ride over the Croatian islands that dot the Adriatic. Her boyfriend, of course, is Lamine Yamalwhose club, Barça, had sent a medical report a week earlier in which they spoke of recurring “pubalgia” to justify his absence with Spain. “And what is this guy doing?” was heard in some office.
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The intrastory of the controversy with Lamine Yamal: an injection, a dance of dates, a call and an unexpected ‘annoyance’
The intrastory of the controversy with Lamine Yamal: an injection, a dance of dates, a call and an unexpected ‘annoyance’
Dad Mounir and dad Yamal, the father and patriarch: “Lamine is not Neymar, he is not dependent on the relationship, on the contrary”
Dad Mounir and dad Yamal, the father and patriarch: “Lamine is not Neymar, he is not dependent on the relationship, on the contrary”
That phrase, in fact, is heard these days, these weeks ago, both in the Spanish Federation and in Barça. In both institutions, there is concern about the path followed by Lamine, an 18-year-old boy who has had the entire football industry come crashing down on him, with what that means. This new dimension into which he has entered is complicated, according to several sources consulted in Barcelona and Madrid, by the lack of a figure capable of guiding the boy in that ocean of fame and money into which he has fallen.
“The problem is that no one shows the way, and at 18 years old it is very difficult to see it for yourself,” explains a person who closely follows the day-to-day life of the Barcelona first team. To Lamine, they whisper in the city, no one dares to tell him not to do certain things. For example, not being in a show King’s League on Thursday night, very close to traveling to Madrid to play a classic. That, these sources point out, is the real problem, and not so much the words of whether Madrid steals or protests. In this same bag the image of the helicopter with his girlfriend could fit in the middle of a week of recovery from an injury that has been weighing him down since the beginning of the season.
To become a reference and for Lamine to listen to someone, there would be three ways. The family, their representative or the club. In the case of the family, only his grandmother, Fatimaor his mother, Sheilacould exert that type of influence, but both are very far from what their son means in terms of football. In the case of the representative, Jorge Mendesis also aware of what is happening, but at the moment there is no evidence of any action beyond the fact that a group of people from Gestifute are at the disposal of their great star.
And the last leg is the club. Barça, in its day, through Jordi Rouradirector of the quarry at the time, decided to have him enter La Masía to isolate him from his surroundings, but now that is no longer possible, and at the Camp Nou, in his works, the figure that he embodied at the time no longer exists. Juanjo Castillo o Pepe Costa‘guardians’ of the players in the broadest sense of the word. Today there is still a Player Services Office, but no one from that office has enough confidence in Lamine for the boy to listen to any advice. At most, they help you look for an apartment. Finally, there is a communication agency, The Underdogswhich helps you with image issues. One detail: it is not known who, but someone convinced Lamine not to appear in an interview with a well-known French streamer on Tuesday.
But let’s go back to the injury. Because the injury is greatly influencing performance. The numbers are not very striking. This season he has three goals (two from penalties) and five assists, while last year, at this point, he had five goals and 11 assists. The difference can be explained in the five games he has missed so far this season. But, beyond the numbers, and far above, are the sensations. At the Bernabéu it was obvious that Lamine is playing injured. Or, at least, diminished by that pubalgia.
Nicki Nicole, Lamine Yamal’s girlfriend, in Montjuïc.EFE
According to the experts consulted, this ailment requires (if conservative treatment is chosen, as has been the case), many hours of physiotherapy, especially before and after training, and a lot of rest. A kid’s life does not follow either of those two paths, especially that of rest. Whether it’s his sponsors, whether it’s his advertising commitments with the club, whether it’s his desire to take on the world on social media at the age of 18, with a famous girlfriend included, the fact is that he can’t find a solution to his physical problems in this way and in Barcelona there are voices that are already talking about perhaps the operation being the best solution for the pubic discomfort that he has been experiencing for days after his only stay with the national team, in the September window.
There he had his only great game of the course. It was in Konya against Türkiye, and you could see the electric and dribbling Lamine that makes him different. It was in those days where another detail caught the attention of some Federation employees. At Monday’s open workout, Lamine didn’t stop to sign autographs. Only a handful of quick photographs were taken, far from the 10-15 minutes that other colleagues spent. They are small details that speak of the change that someone has made who, in the Euro Cup, lent himself to all kinds of jokes, recordings, interviews or crazy things that occurred to the communication team.
It is not so worrying, yes, that what happened with Carvajal at the end of the classic could cloud the selection. To begin with, they will not see each other in November because Carvajal is injured (and it is likely that Lamine will not attend again due to pubalgia). But, apart from that, Madrid’s weight in this team is not, by any means, what they had Ramos, Xabi or Arbeloa in the 2011 national team. Today the other regular Madrid fan is Huijsenand it turns out that Huijsen is inseparable from Lamine. The coaching staff, however, monitors the evolution of the controversy. And, like everyone, they ask themselves the question that has been on the minds of fans since almost his appearance: Will Lamine choose to be Neymar or will you choose to be Messi?