Barcelona Prodigy Lamine Yamal Faces International Decision Amid Morocco’s Interest

Born in Spain to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, Lamine Yamal, 16, holds three nationalities: Spanish, Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean. Among these three countries, Morocco shows a real interest in the young player. Fouzi Lekjaa, the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) and coach Walid Regragui want him to join the Atlas Lions squad. Morocco’s historic and exceptional run at the Qatar World Cup and the prospect of contributing to the continued growth of the Moroccan team and participating in major competitions, such as the next 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) to be held from January 13 to February 11, 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire, could be decisive factors, analyzes TelQuel.

Spain also hopes to have Yamal in its squad. The Moroccan-born prodigy has made promising debuts in the youth categories of Barça and the Spanish national team (U15, U16, U17 and U19). At just 15 years old, the young player has broken several precocity records, including those of his elders like Ansu Fati and the one held since 1941 by the Spaniard Vicenç Martinez by becoming at 15 years and 290 days the youngest player in the history of FC Barcelona. He also became the fifth youngest player in history to make his debut in a Liga match, across all clubs. Recently, the one nicknamed the "new Messi" managed to turn the situation around for FC Barcelona, who were trailing 2-1 with less than ten minutes to go in the match against Tottenham Hotspur during the Joan Gamper Cup. He provided two assists that led to the equalizer and the winning goal (4-2).

Choosing a sporting nationality other than Spanish nationality could provoke the annoyance of the Spaniards. In May, he had provoked their anger by posting a video published on social networks in which we see Yamal in a locker room with his Spanish teammates, wearing the Moroccan national team jersey and kissing its emblem. Some doubted his "loyalty" to the Spanish national team, while others sent him hateful and racist messages. They wish he would be injured or suffer other types of harm. In reality, it was not a recent video, but a video filmed after Morocco’s victory over Spain in the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.