Lamine Yamal: The making of Spain’s 17-year-old Euro 2024 final hope

It was a silent battle that never reached outside ears. At the start of this year, Nike and Adidas held a secret, fierce fight. The reason? Lamine Yamal.

The then-16-year-old sensation was nearing the end of the contract he signed with Nike while in Barcelona’s academy. Adidas noticed. Yamal had been placed in the highest possible rank among world-class talents inside Adidas. Its executives started working away.

Adidas placed an offer just before Nike’s matching rights on any offer Yamal received were set to expire. It was tight timing, but both companies made huge efforts to sign him. Adidas involved Lionel Messi, who recorded a video to tell Yamal how much Adidas wanted him to join. Yamal, who has idolised Messi throughout his life, was impressed, according to people familiar with his thinking, who like others in this piece are speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships.

This was not a new manoeuvre from Adidas. It used Messi in a video to try to lure Martin Odegaard in the past.

Nike replied with a counter-offer and it involved Kylian Mbappe — but as much as Yamal admires Mbappe, he saw a great player who will share his generation.

Yamal’s camp ended up switching to Adidas. Figures of the deal have not been revealed, but people close to the player who are familiar with what happened say he was given luxury treatment when signing with Adidas.

Adidas set up a private jet for Lamine Yamal, his dad and his closest friends to visit their main headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. The deal was announced in February, but Yamal was testing Adidas boots in games from January. He decided the first boots he would wear after his sponsorship was made official had to be, of course, Messi’s signature model.

“Lionel Messi is my idol,” Yamal said in an interview this week. “It would be a dream to play against him one day. I hope Argentina win the Copa America and we win the Euros, so I can play against him in the Finalissima in the future.

“I have never wanted to be compared with Messi. That’s something me and my family have tried to avoid because it’s impossible to match what he has done for football. It’s too much”.

However, he seems determined to smash any expectations. He is Barcelona’s youngest debutant and goalscorer. Spain’s youngest player. The youngest goalscorer in any major international tournament, and set to be a starter in the Euro 2024 final today.

This is Yamal’s story, from the day he was born until the biggest landmark of his sporting career, it includes:

• His upbringing in an impoverished area of Catalonia
• His train trips to training and his love of his public transport pass
• How Barcelona managed his development and why he lives five minutes from the training pitch
• The excitement among his team-mates before he even joined first-team training
• The reality of being a 16-year-old at the Euros, including his study sessions around games

Yamal was born in Esplugues del Llobregat, a municipality on the outskirts of Barcelona about three kilometres away from the Camp Nou. His father, Mounir Nasraoui, is from Morocco, and his mother, Sheila Ebana, is from Guinea Equatorial. They were 21 and 16 when they had Yamal, naming him after his dad’s two best friends — Lamine and Yamal.

He grew up in Mataro, where his dad’s family were based in Catalonia. They lived in the district of Rocafonda, the most segregated area in the city. In 2022, 32.8 per cent of the population living in Rocafonda had a foreign background, while the average in Mataro is 16.7 per cent. In 2021, according to government stats, the average income in the neighbouring Eixample district in Barcelona tripled the figures of someone from Rocafonda. It is one of the areas with the highest poverty levels in Catalonia.

Mounir and Sheila separated a few years after their son’s birth. Sheila moved to Granollers, 40km north of Barcelona, for work and a new life. Mounir stayed in Rocafonda.

Lamine moved in with his mum. He started going to school in Granollers and joined his first club at five: a local team called La Torreta. It took barely two years for Barcelona’s scout in the area, Isidre Gil, to be warned about an unprecedented talent taking his league by storm. Yamal joined Barcelona at the age of seven.

A pitch in Rocafonda, where Yamal grew up (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

He was brought up between Granollers, where the teenager completed primary school, and Rocafonda. This was not just where his dad’s family were established — but also the place that shaped his identity.

Whenever he visited his dad and family, Yamal played football on a concrete pitch with locals. Yamal became used to playing against older kids — and being the best of them. The concrete pitch still serves as the place where children whose families can’t afford to pay for an annual club membership can play football.

Behind one of the goals, a wall stands with an all-graffiti mural. In capital letters, it reads ‘Rocafonda’. Next to it is the number 304 — the last three digits of Rocafonda’s postal code.

Yamal has turned this into his signature goal celebration: practically every time he scores a goal for Barcelona, he shows 304 with his fingers and poses for the cameras — saluting the kids who shared a pitch with him, but most importantly throwing a ray of hope to the ones who now dream about becoming him.

More on Lamine Yamal, the teenager who took Euro 2024 by storm

Yamal’s uncle and cousin also run a well-known bakery in Rocafonda — which is now another symbol in the area. There is a painting of Yamal performing the 304 celebration over the entrance.

Yamal is a hero there. This started early, back when his family struggled to drive Yamal to youth games with Barcelona. During the week, it was not much of a problem. Barcelona have a network of private taxis that pick up local kids from their hometowns and get into training sessions during the week.

When weekends arrived, though, his parents had to take over. On the weekends he spent in Granollers, his mum’s family would drive him to the Joan Gamper training complex for games. His dad Mounir could not drive but he still would wake up hours before the match to take public transport and go to the game with the kid. Yamal would usually sleep on the train to games while his dad took care of him.

In 2019, Barcelona decided the best move to protect and enhance Yamal’s potential was to offer him a place in La Masia. This is the name of the club’s academy and the actual building facilities where certain young talents live.

He moved from his mum’s place to the city and switched to a new high school with his teammates. La Masia is still his home. Yamal now has a five-minute walk from his room to the first-team training pitches.

Yamal’s father Mounir Nasraoui in front of a signed shirt (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

The days when getting to games was a struggle are gone. He still can’t drive — he’s too young — but moving around is not a hurdle anymore. His elder cousin Mohammed acts as his chauffeur, usually doing the rounds with Sohaid, Yamal’s best friend from Rocafonda.

He might be used to travelling in private jets but that does not seem to have changed his perspective. He’s still the kid who found his way through a rough upbringing, supported by a family that did the best they could.

In an interview with GQ magazine this season, Lamine Yamal was asked to show the 10 items he can’t live without.

“The first one is this T-mobilitat, a card for the public transport in Catalonia,” Yamal replied while showing the card on camera. “It allows me to take any train or bus I need. My mum requested it and gave it to me when I moved to La Masia. I used it for everything: going to training, meeting with friends or going to school.”

Yamal did not take long to start making waves at La Masia. For the general public, though, one of the first times they heard his name was in March 2023.

Yamal, who was represented by former Barcelona player Ivan de la Pena, decided, with his camp, to change his agent. He moved to Jorge Mendes’ company, Gestifute.

Those around the teenager highlight the importance of the agency’s influence. Yamal decided his finances would be managed by his agency. According to people who are familiar with Yamal’s thinking, he lets Mendes’ people advise him in marketing and communication matters as well. They have created a new PR company with Yamal as the face of it.

Mendes also brokered the contract extension Yamal signed with Barcelona in October last year. His release clause was raised to €1billion (£870m; $1.1bn). His salary was also upgraded and his contract runs until 2026. There is already a plan to set up a new contract in 2025, when Yamal turns 18. They will discuss a new contract again and improve the terms on a deal until 2030.

Barcelona proved to the teenager he could not find a better place for his progression by involving him in first-team training two seasons ago. President Joan Laporta also made Yamal’s contract extension a priority when he was reelected. That led to his first-team debut in April 2023 in a La Liga match against Real Betis. In a seven-minute cameo, he nearly provided an assist and almost scored.

Graffiti celebrating Yamal in Rocafonda (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

But for the die-hard La Masia followers, the hype started years ago.

His name started to make the rounds at a broader level in 2019 when he led Barcelona Under-12s to win La Liga Promises, an international trophy played in New York.

Yamal was the tournament’s top goalscorer and won the award for its best player. Barcelona beat Real Madrid 6-1 in the final — and Yamal didn’t even score.

At the age of 14, Yamal was playing with the under-16s. Last summer, when he was 15, he was upgraded to the Juvenil A squad, the under-19s. Footage of absurd goals from all ranges did the rounds in local media as his stats grew out of proportion.

According to Diario Sport, before making his first-team debut, Lamine Yamal played 249 games for Barcelona academy teams in nine years, from 2014 to 2023. He scored 357 goals.

In 2017, he scored 79 goals with the under-nines. The next year, he ended up with 70 for the under-10s. The pandemic stopped academy football but he did not suffer. In 2021-2022, he played above his age group for a full season for the first time. He was 14 but joined the under-16s. He scored 20 goals in 32 matches.

“La Masia deserves its credit for Lamine’s success”, says Jordi Font, who coached Yamal with the under-10s during 2016-17.

“The whole system, the housing, the support networks, but also the football side of it. A player from La Masia has a huge advantage ahead of any other because they’ve been educated, training and playing in the same way for half their lives”.

Last summer, after his debut in April 2023, Lamine Yamal joined Xavi’s team on their U.S. pre-season tour. He played just over 30 minutes in three games — but he was in the right place at the right moment.

In that pre-season, Ousmane Dembele left Barcelona after Paris Saint-Germain triggered his €50million release clause. Financial constraints meant Xavi was not allowed to sign a suitable replacement. This was a chance Yamal would not waste.

“If future kids think the Lamine progression is the normality, then they wouldn’t be doing themselves a favour,” says Font. “We are talking about one of the rarest cases you can recall, a prodigy. The club’s current situation, financially speaking, has also helped him a lot to make this step”.

Yamal made a huge impact at the Joan Gamper Trophy, a traditional friendly game, running back to 1966, to introduce the season’s squad to the fans. In 2005, Lionel Messi had his breakout performance in this game against Juventus. Yamal had his own Gamper night to remember, coming on with 10 minutes to go and involving himself in three goals, turning a 2-1 lead for Spurs into a 4-2 Barcelona win.

“Since the first day he came up to train with the first team, the feeling was that he was something different”, says a Barcelona dressing-room source. “Xavi was telling us all the time he was different. He was the clear standout from all the La Masia graduates. Xavi used to tell us he did some magical things — moves that you could not relate to a 15-year-old.

“He was very calm and really quiet. He was aware of the different hierarchies in the squad. But he laughed all day with his closest friends, who probably were Alejandro Balde and Ansu Fati in pre-season.”

Yamal impressed during the Joan Gamper Trophy (Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images)

The Yamal phenomenon could not be stopped. He started the second La Liga game against against Cadiz. It took him just weeks to become the club’s biggest attacking threat. His club season ended with 50 games, seven goals and 10 assists, but his performances and potential outweigh any numbers.

There has been a constant debate about managing him. How do you handle a kid whose body is still growing? The precedent set by Fati and Pedri, who endured multiple injury problems after being overused while teenagers, was a frightening memory to every Barcelona fan.

Xavi and Barcelona handled the situation very smoothly. Of his 50 games, Yamal came on as a substitute in 20. Xavi gave him sporadic games off during the season when he could rotate — and Yamal processed it in the most mature way possible, knowing that it was the best for his future career.

“Since I’ve arrived to the first team, everyone has worked hard to handle my fitness,” said Yamal in an interview with Mundo Deportivo. “I appreciate that.”

Barcelona, the Spanish FA and Yamal decided he would not join Spain at the Olympics this summer, avoiding a scenario similar to Pedri in 2021. He ended up playing over 70 games in a season and suffered for it.

Inside the polarising world of youth football

Curling in a shot into the top corner of France’s goal in the semi-finals does not mean a 16-year-old can get away with skipping their high school final exams.

Yamal squeezed his school books into his suitcase. He used a tablet to video call his teachers and study for the exams. Those who know him say Yamal is “possibly not the hardest-working student, but one that has always passed his exams comfortably”. Two weeks ago, just after the Euro 2024 group stage, it was confirmed he had passed all his exams.

He got his best grade in maths. He struggles most with history, as it requires heavy studying hours. He is comfortable with English and has even been asked questions in that language in mixed zones during the competition, but prefers to respond in Spanish.

Several bureaucratic processes needed to be sorted out for Yamal to travel with Spain. Every time he plays football abroad, his mum must sign off a parental authorisation — a requirement for any underage person who travels without their parents. Yamal also has a legal guardian at the Spain camp, again approved by his parents. The guardian travels with Yamal whenever he goes out by himself.

“I remember where I was when the last Euros was played in 2021”, Yamal said. “I watched all the games at a shopping mall close to Rocafonda with my best mates”.

Last summer, he played in the European Under-17 Championship, where they faced France in the semi-finals too. Yamal scored a top-corner curler from the edge of the box that might remind you of another — but Spain were knocked out after a dramatic comeback from France in the last 15 minutes.

Lamine Yamal 🆚 France, #U17EURO semi-final, 2023 🤯 pic.twitter.com/kORrM0UmjL

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 9, 2024

He’s also had some issues with Spain. In March 2023, he was dropped, along with two other under-19 team-mates, for an unspecified act of indiscipline while on duty in Portugal. Barcelona extended the punishment by sidelining him in their under-19s for three weeks. He accepted the decisions and apologised to all sides. He soon returned to international duties.

Yamal’s emergence with Spain has been stratospheric, partly fuelled by his eligibility for Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. The Spanish FA contacted his camp at the start of last season to clarify he had a future at the highest level.

Yamal’s camp was convinced by the sporting plan they presented. Spain were committed to tying him down. His senior international debut in September last year was partly motivated by that, as people at the Spanish FA admit. What has come next has been down to what he has done on a football pitch.

Yamal’s rise with Spain has been rapid (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)

He has registered one goal and three assists at the Euros, earning praise from his team-mates.

In the quarter-final game, Yamal was taken off after 63 minutes to make way for Ferran Torres. As much as the substitution was criticised by local media, the reality is that Dani Carvajal had asked head coach Luis de la Fuente for this. Spain were struggling with Germany pushing for an equaliser and Carvajal felt he needed the winger on his side to help him out more defensively.

In the next round against France, Yamal was taken off during stoppage time after a tireless display praised by Spain’s Rodri: “I went towards Lamine individually to congratulate him for his game. People will remember his stunner and his rise to the top at the age of 16. But I congratulated him for his defensive contributions, which were truly outstanding tonight.

“His performance was so complete, the way he helped out in coverages, tracking back…”

Yamal might not be the greatest student of history, but he is already writing it. The hard work has already happened — tonight is another chance for it to pay off.

(Top photo: Alex Livesey via Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)