Barcelona right winger Lamine Yamal just might be the best player in world football, because he was the biggest standout of the European Championships this past summer when Spain won the tournament and has started off the 2024/25 season on an absolute tear.
Yamal is the best player on a Barcelona team loaded with attacking talent and in the midst of a historically great attacking season under new manager Hansi Flick. He has scored 5 goals with 7 assists in 11 starts thus far, averaging 2.2 key passes and 5.0 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.
Perhaps the best example of Yamal’s value to Barcelona came this past weekend when the Blaugrana sputtered to a 1-0 loss against Real Sociedad, failing to win one-on-ones or produce much meaningful offense for the first time all season against a rather disappointing La Real side that was 12th before the match.
Yamal missed this La Liga encounter with a muscular overload, his second of the season. Therefore, Barcelona have to be careful about managing their 17-year-old phenom’s minutes, having seen the way a heavy workload can hurt prospects with the recent injuries to midfielders Gavi and Pedri.
Although Yamal should be back in the Barcelona lineup after the international fixtures when La Liga resumes with a battle against Celta Vigo on Nov. 23, if he were to miss time in the future, though, it looks like the Blaugrana have a tailor-made replacement for the world-class winger.
According to Diario Sport’s Jaume Marcet, 16-year-old Toni Fernandez is the chosen Lamine Yamal replacement in the case of injury or absence, and Barcelona are quite high on their latest teenage talent in the attack.
Hansi Flick is said to be a fan of Fernandez, as the club value his chance creation and dribbling ability in one-on-ones. They feel he has the tools to be a star on the wing in his own right.
Fernandez is currently out until next month with an ankle injury, so he’s not much use as a Yamal replacement right now. But in the future, Fernandez could get minutes under Flick this season and play a key role in helping ease the loss of Yamal, which was obviously a big loss this past weekend at La Real.
Barcelona have so many gems in their academy that we are watching flourish under a truly great manager in Flick, so don’t be surprised if Fernandez steps out of Yamal’s shadow to become another acclaimed young star in Barcelona.
