The meteoric rise of Lamine Yamal at FC Barcelona, at the tender age of only 18 years, has not been a coincidence.
From his earliest steps in youth football, the La Masia forward showed clear signs of his potential to become a star.
And, one of the key figures who witnessed that development first-hand was Javier Saviola. A former Barcelona player, the Argentine was the assistant coach of the club’s Juvenil A outfit when Lamine broke through.
He was directly involved in the development of several current first-team players, including Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Hector Fort (on loan at Elche).
Saviola on Lamine Yamal’s breakthrough
Speaking to SPORT in an interview, Saviola reflected on that generation of young talents, with particular focus on Lamine and his explosion.
“We saw Lamine as different from the rest, for example, in the way he covered ground. When you see players like Messi, whom I had the chance to watch when I was 12-13, you realise it right away, because you’ve been involved in football for a long time,” he said.
“When such a young player shows something different, especially qualities that are rare at that age, you know there’s something special. And that’s what happened with Lamine,” Saviola acknowledged.
Javier Saviola worked with Lamine Yamal at La Masia. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Continuing, he admitted: “We weren’t worried about his footballing ability, but rather how to manage him, because we knew that in the future he would have a great chance of making it into Barça’s first team.”
Although Yamal attracted most of the attention, Saviola highlighted that the squad he worked with included several other promising players, while also crediting former Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez for spotting their talent and taking them up.
“Alongside Yamal, there were also Hector Fort and two or three other players. It really was an exceptional process that even Xavi spotted straight away and asked us for references on him,” the Argentine stated.
“From then on, we started working with him, and we were very proud, because we managed to get five or six players into very important teams at such a young age.”
“Seeing them succeed with the tools we tried to provide them with was a huge achievement. Honestly, it was an extraordinary job,” he explained.
