La Liga president waxes lyrical over ‘spectacular’ Barcelona rising star | OneFootball

Several Barcelona players have excelled in UEFA Euro 2024, yet none have quite matched the exceptional campaign of Lamine Yamal.

Earning widespread acclaim from across the world, Yamal is one step away from winning the elusive trophy and putting a bow on his successful tournament.

Now, President of La Liga Javier Tebas has come out to give Barça’s young jewel his roses, highlighting his incredible rise to stardom and the implications this could have on El Clasico.

Tebas gushes over Yamal

From a remarkably young age, Yamal was touted as the next big talent. While many players struggle to fulfil their potential, the 16-year-old has gone above and beyond, surpassing expectations impressively.

Touching upon his spectacular strides, Tebas recognized that he was always destined for great things.

“The thing about Lamine, those of us who have followed his evolution, it was already known that he was a different player. And he is proving it. The stars are born different,” he told SPORT.

Tebas stressed that Yamal is impressive due to his age and journey, but what matters for La Liga is that all the heavyweights compete at a high level.

“Lamine is spectacular because of his age and everything that has happened to him, but the important thing for La Liga is that Real Madrid, Barça, Betis, Villarreal, and Sevilla are at a high level and that they have great players in their ranks,” he claimed.

Javier Tebas amazed by Lamine Yamal. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo defined a remarkable era of rivalry. Now, there is a void beckoning to be filled in the Clasico.

Tebas was asked if Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s new signing Kylian Mbappe could step into that role.

Yamal recently outshone Mbappe in Spain’s semi-final clash against France, setting the stage for an even greater challenge in the upcoming season.

“The Clasico is one of our great products, but not the only one. In the times of Messi and Cristiano, it was the fight between the two great players of the world in the two great clubs in the world, and we resorted a lot to that image to accelerate growth,” Tebas said.

“Barcelona have great players, as is the case of Pedri or Gavi who are homegrown. And there is another style of raising stars in football; one that is based on acquisition, like Madrid, as opposed to one that is homegrown, like Barcelona,” he remarked.

On being asked if the economic gap between Madrid and Barcelona getting smaller and smaller, he replied:

“Of course it is. Real Madrid have had a wage policy in accordance with their income structure, sometimes even less. Now Barcelona are adapting theirs and are therefore getting closer. We’ll see if they can do it. It would be good for Barcelona and La Liga.”