Lamine Yamal: Barcelona star faces locker room revolt

Robin Bairner

29 Oct 2025 14:32 GMT
4 min read

Lamine Yamal of Barcelona reacts after El Clasico — © IMAGO

Lamine Yamal faces the first major hurdle of his career, with the Barcelona star drawing criticism from behind the scenes in a situation that is proving increasingly complicated to manage.

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Having narrowly missed out on the Ballon d’Or, Lamine has been persistently troubled by injury issues this season, but has still returned three goals and five assists in eight appearances for Barcelona.

Although he failed to have an impact in El Clasico on Sunday, insiders suggest that he was playing through the groin problem that has been a constant niggle this term.

Current ETV

Lamine Yamal

F, M (R)

Barcelona

Lamine Yamal

F, M (R)

Barcelona

ETV Range

€164.5M - €201M

But it seems that Lamine has bigger problems to worry about than his physical state. According to Catalan source El Nacional, several members of the Spain squad are telling head coach Luis de la Fuente to drop the teenager.

It is claimed that some players are concerned that the team presses less when Lamine is playing, but there is also a secondary reason why some stars have told De la Fuente to ditch the Barcelona star for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Turkey.

“Some see the attitude of a precocious star. They say he's no longer the quiet, focused kid he was a year ago. He seems arrogant, even distant. In a locker room that values unity over egos, this is starting to weigh on them,” the report claims.

These players have told the coach that Lamine must be “brought under control”.

Spain boss De la Fuenta has Lamine’s back

De la Fuente has been handed a delicate situation. While Spain naturally see Lamine as their star of the future, there is concern that he is getting ahead of himself.

Veterans in the squad have already spoken to him about this.

The coach, meanwhile, has defended the actions of the Barcelona star in public before.

Speaking in March, he said: “What do I demand from Lamine? To keep enjoying football, to keep doing what he likes, to keep understanding football the way he does.

“What do I demand from the rest of you [the media]? To understand that he is not a mature player yet. He still needs to grow.

“He can get really far, but it's you guys who criticise him and want to 'kill him.'”

Ironically, Barcelona would likely be quite happy with Lamine being left out of the Spain squad for the forthcoming games.

Having already clashed with De la Fuente previously this season for calling up their fragile star, Hansi Flick would doubtless appreciate if the teenager were given a week off.

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