Pulled by Spain and Morocco in particular, the young Lamine Yamal may have made up his mind, but it is far from being a definitive option.
Lamine Yamal is an African player of African origin, but who studied in Europe, more precisely in Spain. This season, he is included in the first team of FC Barcelona and continues to arouse a lot of admiration in each match. But to exist as a footballer, he needs a sporting nationality. For now, Lamine Yamal is a Spanish player. However, he still has the possibility of returning to Morocco or Equatorial Guinea where two parents come from.
Lamine Yamal summoned to the Spanish team, a whole plot around
Lamine Yamal is finally called up to the A of Spain. While he has been progressing wisely in the youth categories until now, Morocco ‘s interest has ignited the powder within the Spanish authorities. This is nothing other than a method by the Spanish camp to anticipate a possible turnaround by the 16-year-old footballer. But to achieve this, he had to deploy all his forces and influences around Lamine Yamal . The Royal Spanish Football Federation clearly used all possible means to attract the Barça player to its camp.
Speaking of Barça, it is also a channel that participated in this campaign around Yamal. The club would have informed him that by opting for Morocco, he would go for CAN 2023 next January and therefore with the possibility of losing his place in Xavi’s squad. The latter did not stay behind either. Everyone pitched in to put crazy pressure on the young player. It was therefore almost inevitable for Lamine Yamal to survive this avalanche of influences. Certainly suffocated by all these attempts to dissuade him from going to Morocco, he had to give his “yes” for a while to calm things down.
“If he plays for Spain, good luck to him”, Walid Regragui
At a press conference on Thursday, August 31, Walid Regragui appeared too pessimistic about the possibility of Morocco counting Lamine Yamal in its selection. The Moroccan coach said that everything was done to try to bring the young footballer back to his origins. “He’s a 16-year-old boy who just celebrated his birthday just a month ago. He has a very difficult decision to make. We, that is to say the FRMF and I, worked for him to come. It’s a complicated choice,” confided Walid Regragui.
The Atlas Lions coach wants to be able to count on Lamine Yamal in his group sooner or later. According to him, the doors of the Moroccan selection are always open to the 16-year-old striker. “We cannot force anyone to play for Morocco, especially if they were born abroad and played for Spain’s youth categories. I met the young man and explained our plans and ambitions to him. If he plays for Spain, good luck to him. If he chooses us we will be happy, given his quality and what he can bring. We are open with him and we are waiting for what will happen in the coming weeks,” said Walid Regragui.
Spain or Morocco? Lamine Yamal has more time than you think
As the international break approaches, there is a fight between the federations concerned by the selection career of Lamine Yamal. There are mainly two of them who are embarking on this battle, the outcome of which remains without an exact definition.
Spain hopes to convince the player he saw born and raised on his land. Meanwhile, Morocco is applying to recover the Barça nugget with the argument that his father is Moroccan. The dilemma therefore presents itself to Lamine Yamal, except that his immediate choice will not be the most important. He may well take part in one of the two selections. This without obscuring the fact that he has a good margin to reconsider his decision. This would not be the first case of this kind.
Ezzalzouli, Aouar, Laïdouni, M’Bolhi and several others before Lamine Yamal
Regarding the choice of his selection while young, Lamine Yamal is not the first to be confronted with it. Before him, many footballers have also had the privilege or embarrassment of deciding between two sporting nationalities. The examples are legion. The most recent one related to that of Lamine Yamal is the case of Abde Ezzalzouli. This had long been promised for Spain. Ultimately, he plays for Morocco, under whose colors he had the pleasure of reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup and winning the U23 CAN.
The example of Ezzalzouli calls on another, that of Munir El Haddadi. It was he who opened the door to this possibility of changing nationality despite having played for another A selection. In 2014, he was called up to the senior Spanish national team for the first time. This is of no consequence for him who can still represent Morocco, since he was only 19 years old at the time. But when he was already 21 years old, the former Sevilla FC player played 3 official matches with Spain, counting for the U23 Euro qualifiers. Which compromises his chances with the Atlas Lions. After many attempts, the Moroccans managed to obtain from FIFA a flexible measure in the regulations linked to the change of sporting nationality of footballers. On March 26, 2021, he made his debut with Morocco.
Apart from the two mentioned above, Houssem Aouar also backpedaled. Promised for a bright future with the French Blues, the now Algerian international has only played one match for the senior French team. Today, he has two matches with the Fennecs of Algeria. However, he is not the only Algerian international to have experienced this.
Before him, Raïs M’Bolhi opted for the Algeria of his mother Aïcha to the detriment of the DR Congo of his father. The now 37-year-old goalkeeper also had the opportunity to play for France. But after having evolved with the French youth selections (U17, U18), he took a tangent to defend the Algerian colors. A choice crowned by consecration to CAN 2019 with Algeria. Without doubt the most beautiful tribute that Raïs M’Bolhi would have liked to make to his mother. Unlike M’Bolhi, Aïssa Laïdouna, for her part, left Algeria in favor of Tunisia. Since 2021, he has defended the colors of the Carthage Eagles with whom he recently took part in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
There is no hurry in the end Lamine Yamal
In view of all this, we are tempted to say that a choice of Lamine Yamal at this moment could be a simple diversion. He is currently only 16 years old and has only played for the Spanish age category selections until now. Nothing will be permanent for him anytime soon, at least not for a few years.
For now, the young right winger is enjoying his playing time at FC Barcelona in his first season as a professional footballer. Lamine Yamal has a statistic of 2 assists in 3 matches played.
