This is the second international break of the 2025-26 season, and Lamine Yamal has a week off. This is good news from the point of view that the 18-year-old really needs it, but the bad news for the Barcelona striker is that he will go back from an injury to the groin suffered during the defeat of the team of the team against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Yamal’s groin injury could simply be unlucky and the rigors of high -level football, but when the incredible appearance numbers of the teenager are taken into account – 130 senior and 8,158 minutes on the field by his 18th anniversary – the shadow of professional exhaustion and the danger of football performing his greatest young star in the ground becomes a disturbing possibility.
No other elite footballer has registered close to appearances and minutes by Yamal at the age of 18 and his workload led to FIFPro, the Global Players’ Union, using his playing time for the club and the country as a case study in a 51-page report on the 2024-25 season entitled “Overwork and sub-Protected-The player and the impact of performance”.
“The growing intensity of modern game is difficult enough for established professionals, but for young players aged 16 to 20, the risks are even more important,” said Dr. Darren Burgess, president of the high performance advisory network in FIFPro. “At a stage where their body and mind are still developing, the requirements of congested schedules and high intensity training can have lasting consequences for career performance and longevity.”
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So, how long was Yamal than his contemporaries? The answer to this is astounding and perhaps alarming.
Yamal’s 130 appearances for Barcelona and Spain before its 18th birthday are almost twice as much as the second player on the list of current players among these two teams: Pau Cubarsí, the 18 -year -old defender, recorded 69 appearances, with the Gavi (60) and Pedri (49) fields.
Beyond Barcelona and Spain, Yamal figures continue to be outside the scale compared to those who play at a similar level.
Yamal’s sensational performances last year saw him named Golden Boy 2024 – The prize awarded by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport to the footballer under 21 in Europe – and he made him reach 8,158 minutes at his 18th birthday.
None of the three most recent winners – Jude Bellingham (2023), GAVI (2022) and Pedri (2021) – approach. Bellingham was the closest, with 6,216 minutes at his 18th birthday, while Gavi (4,195) and Pedri (3,811) both had much lower minutes.
Bellingham’s workload has often been quoted as a concern, the Real Madrid and England midfielder having been a regular at the club level since his 16 -year -old franchise in Birmingham City, but the 22 -year -old man made his 100th senior appearance that at the age of 18 and 10 months.
Guess what? Yamal became the youngest player reaching 100 games by hitting the brand at the age of 17 and seven months – eclipizing the previous Romelu Lukaku Ramel holder.
So far, in his prodigious career, since his debut in Barcelona at the age of 15, nine months and 16 days against the real Betis in April 2023, Yamal was relatively not traced by an injury, missing only 18 games for Barça and Spain, in particular the Laliga coup on Sunday against Seville, but by the transfer of the start.
And if the worst fears of Barcelona are confirmed, Yamal’s last injury could keep him out of action for a month, declaring him out of the qualifying of the Spanish World Cup against Georgia and Bulgaria in next week and putting his participation in El Clasico Against Real Madrid on October 26 in doubt.
“We do not know when Lamine returns because with this injury,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said on Friday. “It is not easy to say because it is not a muscle injury. We do not know if it will be back in two, three or four weeks, so I do not know if it will be ready for the Clasico. We must manage its minutes. He will do it step by step.”
However, there is already a clear tension between Barcelona and Spain on the management of the player’s national team. Flick, who led to Germany between leaving Bayern Munich in 2021 and joined Barcelona in 2024, was underlined in his criticism of the use of Yamal by Spain during the qualifications of the September World Cup.
“It’s a shame,” he said. “He (Yamal) went to the national team in pain, played and received pain relievers to play. He played 79 minutes and 73 – it is not care of players.
“Spain has the best players in all positions. It is worth taking care of young players. I am sad about the situation, but it is as if they were doing this (for them).”
In response, the Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente questioned Flick’s comments, saying that he “was surprised, since he (Flick) is a manager who also trained a national team and I thought he would have had more empathy.”
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Yamal is not the first young player to himself at the center of the club against country tension.
Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, two players who shot international celebrity during major tournaments with England at the age of 18, were constantly found in the departure XI for the club and the country, and the two have since admitted back to action too early for the national team after long injury battles.
Owen and Rooney were also well exceeded from their best and thrown by England at the age of 30, so there are warning signs for Yamal to take into account.
“Physically, exposing adolescents to repeated charges of matches and training designed for completely mature players increases the risk of overuse injury,” said Burgess, who is also a former high performance director at Arsenal and Liverpool. “Growth plates, tendons and ligaments remain vulnerable during these years, and excessive high speed or short recovery windows can cause long -term structural damage.
“What could start as a minor problem – a recurring strain of the hamstrings, a stress fracture – can quickly become a model that follows a player throughout his career. Perhaps the biggest cost of all is a lost potential. A player rushing too early, without adequate protection and progressive development, can see his career shortened before it really starts.”
Barcelona and Spain therefore have a huge responsibility towards Yamal and other young people who shoot their emblematic jerseys. At 18, Yamal has the world at his feet and could be the natural heir to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but he will have no chance if he runs up before hitting 30.
“If sport seriously concerns the next generation, it must prioritize development in relation to exploitation,” said Burgess. “It is only then that young talents today will have the chance to become lasting stars of tomorrow.”
