Former Barcelona director Jordi Cruyff has admitted the club found themselves in an internal battle to prepare themselves for the inevitable shockwaves Lamine Yamal’s debut would cause.
Yamal made his first appearance for Barcelona as a late substitute in April 2023 and was a regular starter the following season. Still only 18 years old, he is already hailed as one of world football’s premier talents and recently celebrated his birthday by receiving the club’s famous No. 10 shirt.
Those inside Barcelona were confident Yamal was always going to enjoy such a rapid ascent, so much so that they had to delay his breakthrough to make sure they were ready for the transfer interest he was certain to generate.
“Xavi wanted to give him his debut earlier,” Cruyff told SPORT. “And we had to talk to Mateu [Alemany, former director of football] about it.
“We said, ‘Xavi, he’s 15 years old and he’s not protected. If he plays 10 games and shows what we’re seeing he has... he doesn’t have a contract. We’re putting him on the market without having him protected.”
At 15 years old, Yamal was not legally tied to Barcelona and was free to leave the club at the end of the 2022–23 season once he had turned 16. Reports suggest there was a number of teams across Europe eyeing a shock free transfer.
Talks with Yamal’s representatives, Iván de la Peña and, later, Jorge Mendes, ultimately saw an agreement reached over a contract which would be signed when Yamal turned 16 in July 2023, giving Barcelona the confidence needed to thrust Yamal into the spotlight.
“When we saw that everyone was calm, we said: ’Okay, Xavi, that’s it‘,” Cruyff continued. “If not, he would have made his debut much earlier.
“The things he did with the ball were special. His year-on-year improvement is incredible.
“What struck me most was the unspoken reaction of the veteran players. When he started doing his thing, they just looked at each other, like: ‘What is this?’ Because it wasn’t normal.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Not Protected’—Former Barcelona Director Admits Delaying Lamine Yamal’s Debut.