Raphinha, Fati, Dembélé… And no, it was Lamine Yamal who impressed Robert Lewandowski the most. Arriving during the 2022 summer transfer window, from Bayern Munich, the Polish international did not expect to discover such a crack. “The first time I saw him in training, he was 15 years old. I've seen promising young players come and go, but this was the first time in my life that I said to myself: ' Who is he?'”, told the top striker in the podcast presented by Rio Ferdinand, before adding a new layer: “Musiala also has that something extra, but Lamine (Yamal) is the first one who made me say: 'How is it possible, at this age, to already have this level, it's impossible to be so good and smart.'
The talent of the Spanish nugget therefore stood out to his elder, who directly saw his potential and wanted to take him under his wing. “I don’t want to just be a professional footballer on the pitch, I also want to bring my experience, everything I have experienced in my career, so that young people work better,” explained the former Borussia player. Dortmund.
“An even more complicated challenge to come”
Today, the Lewandowski-Yamal duo (without forgetting captain Raphinha) is enjoying the glory days of FC Barcelona. The Catalan attacking trio has already scored 37 goals since the start of the season. Two years after the first exchanges between the attackers in training, the 17-year-old crack was elected best young player of Euro 2024 which he won, then received the Raymond Kopa 2024 prize, rewarding the best hope of under 21 years old.
If he has already achieved great achievements, his Polish teammate warns him: “On the one hand, what he is doing is incredible, but he must also think that later, there will be another challenge more complicated, which is to stay at this level or even look higher. And here we are not talking about three or four years, but a decade. Staying as good at 28, 29 years old, that's the biggest challenge. of his career.”
Original article published on RMC Sport
