Spain Euro 2024 star Lamine Yamal looks every inch the ‘dream teen’… but the biggest challenge is yet to come

I WAS having a conversation with my dad about Lamine Yamal the other day.

We were remembering my own journey and a really good goal I scored when I was 15.

I was playing for the Arsenal reserves at Barnet’s ground, Underhill, against West Ham. I cut in and curled it into the top corner.

That was almost the start of people recognising me. It went on YouTube and Arsene Wenger was there.

But I said to my dad: “This kid Yamal is doing it in the semi-final of the European Championship.”

I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. Yes, we speak about Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004. But he was 18 and already developed. This kid has just finished school!

The only possible comparison is Pele, someone I never saw play but who became a superstar when he was still a teenager.

The greatest players in the world are the ones who not only know how to produce those game-changing moments but when to produce them.

Yamal seems to have that. The challenge for him — not now, because he is in great form and loving life — is can he sustain it?

You need resilience. At the moment everyone is talking about him and  loving him. But there is going to come a time when he’s going to face adversity.

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He needs courage, which he seems to have bundles of. Every time he takes the ball, he’s confident.

I’ve seen him have bad moments but he still has the courage to get on the ball.

And he needs love for the game, which makes you constantly seek ways to get better.

There will be moments when it’s tough for him. But all the superstars, like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, have been through those moments. It’s about how he responds.

So far he is managing the pressure and expectation that has been put on him from a young age.

I know a bit about what that’s like. I made my Arsenal debut at 16, played a few cup games, came on in the Premier League and then had six months on loan at Bolton.

My real breakthrough season was 2010-11, when I established myself in the first team. Then Arsenal were drawn against Barcelona in the Champions League Last 16 and the first leg was an important game for me.

All the way through my youth career and into the first team, I’d been good at stepping up and adapting to a new level of competition. But this was different — and I felt it.

When Jack dominated Barcelona

In the tunnel, I was standing next to players like Xavi and Andres Iniesta, midfielders I had been watching for years and even during that season, trying to learn from them.

But the one who  stood out was Messi. He had a real calmness, an aura. You could feel the confidence coming off him.

I didn’t touch the ball for the first ten  minutes. Nor did the rest of the Arsenal team.

But then there was this moment where I went in for a challenge I had no right to win, got up with the ball and there were three players around me. I beat them and played the ball wide.

I felt the whole energy in the crowd lift. I fed off that and I think the team did, too. We came back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 and I was man of the match.

After the game, Samir Nasri said to me: “You’ve gone to another level now. Now you need to be consistent at that level.”

Rising through the ranks

Pep Guardiola was Barcelona boss at the time and was asked about me after the game. He said I had played well but he had a number of players as good as me in his B team.

I laugh about it now but at the time it annoyed me. I took it personally and used it as motivation.

At the time I was a bit unusual for an English midfielder. I was a player who could receive and use the ball, a bit Spanish-like.

But I also had a bit of personality. I wanted to win and I’d do whatever it took.

We have more players like that in England now. That is a credit to the coaching in the academies and credit to the first-team managers who have put trust in players, like Arsene did in me.

When we as youth coaches give young players to the first team, they are not  finished. Head coaches are the ones who complete their development.

Kobbie Mainoo comparison

England now have more players who are technically good but also characters and leaders.

Kobbie Mainoo is the perfect example. How brave he is. How he understands the game. How we wants the ball.

The starting point is making them really good at football so they trust their ability and have a big belief in what they do. Then it’s giving them the freedom and opportunity to go and express themselves.

That’s what Mainoo and Yamal have had. And here they are, two teenagers facing each other in the biggest game of their lives.

Jack on Rodri

WHEN I think of Rodri, I love what he does in possession, how he keeps the ball and breaks lines, how he is always available if a player is under pressure.

But as Declan Rice has said, the other side is that he is a monster. Out of possession, he gets around the pitch and wins duels.

People used to say about me that I had English bite and Spanish technique, while some Spanish players might lack that bite in the tackle.

Rodri has got it all. He  can do the possession stuff but he can also leave his foot in, be nasty, be horrible, win the ball.

Rice is a little younger than him and producing very  consistent performances.

They are at the top of  the Premier League. One week Rice might be ahead, the next it might be Rodri.

Let’s hope it’s Rice who comes out on top on Sunday.

Jack on Bellingham

DID people really expect Jude Bellingham to dominate every game?
Some people probably did — and he certainly has the ability to do it.
But he is still a 21-year-old kid and it was unrealistic for him to do that, game after game, after a long season.

He has delivered big moments but we should also appreciate that what he gives us out of possession is exceptional. He’s always running, always there to make a block.

Can he do more? I think  he can and, being the type  of person he is, he will know that. He will want more.

But he will be happy with his contribution.

Without him, England wouldn’t be here.

We were dead, we were out, we were on a plane home in that Slovakia game.

A moment of magic swung it our way and he was the  guy who did it.

Jack on how to win

SPAIN will probably dominate the ball more than any team England have played against.

We have to be careful with our press because they are masters of finding a free player and playing through you.

I would love to see us press man for man and be aggressive. But we know Gareth Southgate probably won’t do that.

Are we going to press high or only commit a certain number of players to the press and make sure we are secure if and when they do play through us? Or are we going to sit in a block and say: “Go on, have the ball”?

England need to find a way to suffer yet still have moments of quality.

Can we still hurt them? Yes. Can we still have spells of possession with this  shape? Yes.

We will have to be clinical, as well as keeping that same resilience and will to win.

I see it being really tight and England maybe nicking it.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk