ITV pundits gush over Yamal and reveal what they did at 16 from working on building sites to drinking cider in a field
LAMINE YAMAL became a European Champion at just 17 years old last week.
The teenager earned Uefa’s Euro 2024 Young Player of the Tournament award as Spain lifted the trophy in Berlin.
Yamal played the majority of the tournament as a 16 year old, turning 17 just one day before Spain’s 2-1 final victory over England.
The youngster already proved he could mix it with the big boys at club level last term, featuring in all but one of Barcelona‘s 38 league games.
But nobody was expecting him to be quite as impressive as he was for Spain this summer, with no player racking up more goal contributions at the tournament than Yamal’s five.
While he also smashed the record for youngest goalscorer in Euros history and became the youngest player to ever start a major international final.
His unprecedented talent levels at such a young age have had former pros harking back to their youth and recalling what they were doing when they were just 16.
ITV pundits Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott got together on the Stick to Football: The Overlap Special, brought to you by Sky Bet to cast their minds back to their formative years.
Despite a combined 346 international caps and over 60 career trophies, none of the four retired pros were tearing it up on the biggest stage back in their teens.
Discussing how they spent their time when they were 16 each of the stars explained how they were a world away from Yamal’s levels.
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Neville explained: “That year I started playing for [Manchester] United and did my GCSE’s.”
While Jill Scott has a similar memory as she recalled being in the youth ranks at Sunderland when she was 16.
Although the former Lionesses hero explained that now colleague Roy Keane, may have been manager of the men’s team at the time.
Prompting Keane to say: “That makes me feel really old that.”
The Irishman himself was certainly not lifting trophies aloft, as he revealed he would have been drinking in a field with his friends at the age of 16.
Keane said: “When I was 16 or 17 I was probably drinking bottles of cider in a field – living the dream.”
Although that was still a lot better than what he was doing when he was 11, adding that he used to smoke cigarettes back in his youth.
He added: “I remember we used to play football after the games in the evening, watching the 1982 World Cup.
“I would have been 11 and we’d be playing football and we would have the odd cigarette.
“I remember saying ‘I’m giving them up, I want to be a footballer’.”
And Ian Wright was also miles away from the pitch when he was 16, with the Arsenal icon not turning pro until he was 21.
He chimed in: “I was on a building site, I was working back then.
“I was just working for a private guy who used to renovate houses, I was getting £50-a-week.”
Yamal’s breakthrough tournament hasn’t been without the mundane realities of being a teenager though.
With the La Masia graduate admitting that he was forced to do homework while in Germany for Euro 2024, balancing his school work with breaking records.
Before the tournament began, he explained: “I brought my homework here because I’m in the 4th year of ESO [Spanish secondary school].
“I have online classes too and those are going fine. I hope the teacher doesn’t get mad at me.”
Inside the baffling, brilliant story of Lamine Yamal – from being bathed by Messi to doing homework while taking Euros by storm
LAMINE YAMAL has confirmed his status as football’s next superstar at Euro 2024 – but has only been playing 11-a-side games for four years, write Jack Rosser.
Spain’s incredible 16-year-old bent home the goal of the tournament so far against France as La Roja sealed the spot in the final.
But his first five years in Barcelona’s academy were spent playing seven-a-side football, up until the age of 12 in 2020 when he finally got a crack at 11-a-side games.
Yamal’s story is baffling, brilliant and barely believable in equal measure.
He is a boy born to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, who turned 17 the day before the Euros final, and was cradled by footballing royalty at just six months old.
Staggering pictures of Yamal as a baby being held and bathed by Messi, taken for a Barcelona charity calendar 16 years ago, resurfaced this week.
He did not restrict his brushes with greatness to Barcelona either, with footage of Yamal as an academy player walking as a mascot with Spain and Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos at an El Clasico in 2016.
There is a touch of fate about this gem, Spain’s “little MVP”, as team-mate Nico Williams has dubbed him.
Yamal has been doing homework in his spare time and received exam results during the tournament. He passed, obviously.
Now he’s the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, also becoming the youngest player to ever start a major semi-final – claiming that title from Pele.
But it’s Yamal’s humble approach on and off the pitch that most impresses everyone he meets.
And France star Adrien Rabiot probably felt quite embarrassed as he boarded his plane back home from Germany.
He had tried to intimidate Yamal ahead of their semi-final clash – telling Yamal he “needs to do more.”
Was this good enough, then? Yamal responded with a goal for the ages and a man of the match performance.
A season which started with a pre-season game against Tottenham where Yamal excelled but was overshadowed by Oliver Skipp scoring a brace will end on the biggest stage European football has to offer on Sunday.
From being outshone by Skipp to eclipsing Pele’s records is not a bad year’s work – just imagine what he will do when he grows up.
Read all about the incredible rise of Lamine Yamal in full…