Why Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal was blocked from making debut even earlier – with record-shattering Euro 2024 winner making his senior bow at 15

It did not take long for the Liga giants to realise that they had another special talent in their famed La Masia academy system. Yamal’s potential was clear for all to see, with it considered to be only a matter of time before he made a stunning breakthrough and followed in the illustrious footsteps of Lionel Messi.

Yamal has been shattering records on a regular basis, becoming the youngest debutant for Barca in their long and distinguished history. He became a European Championship winner with Spain the day after his 17th birthday and has been on target in domestic and Champions League competition this season.

The talented teenager is becoming a global superstar, with ex-sporting director Jordi Cruyff revealing that first steps down that path would have been taken sooner had Barca been able to put a contract in place. The Dutchman – who is the son of Blaugrana legend Johan – has told Movistar Plus: “The first time he went to train [with the first team], after five minutes the coach, who was Xavi, looked at us and said 'this is special'. I wanted to give him his debut sooner, but we didn't have a contract with the boy so we had to first make sure that he was going to be ours for many years. Even the veterans saw that he was something different, very difficult to find.”

Barca now have Yamal tied to a deal that includes a €1 billion (£838m/$1.1bn) release clause. They had to be patient in pursuit of those terms, with the decision taken not to reveal him to the world too soon as a rival may have looked to prise him from their clutches with no transfer fee required.