Morocco Coach Regragui Respects Lamine Yamal’s National Team Decision

"It’s a personal decision. We have studied the question, but we cannot force anyone to play for Morocco. We are aware that he has potential and a future. He was born in Spain. I wouldn’t want to live this situation at his age," explained the coach of the Atlas Lions.

Last week, Francis Hernandez and Vicente Blanco of the Spanish Federation separately exchanged with Yamal and the Barça leaders to convince the 16-year-old player to join the Spanish national team, recalls Marca. Walid Regragui had also traveled to Barcelona last weekend to talk with the young striker born in Spain to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother.

The Moroccan coach also mentioned the case of Brahim Diaz, the Real Madrid player, also courted to join the Moroccan team. "Brahim obviously interests us. But there are many aspects in these cases, and they are not easy to resolve. One of them is the Africa Cup of Nations in January, which does not help us," explained Regragui.