Barcelona legend issues Lamine Yamal warning by citing former La Masia gem as example | OneFootball

Analysing last night’s Champions League matches at the CBS Sports Studio, Thierry Henry notably raised a few eyebrows with his long message to Barcelona over Lamine Yamal.

The former Barcelona forward warned that the club must be careful when dealing with the fame and expectations growing around Yamal, urging them not to make the same mistake they made with Bojan Krkic about a decade and a half ago.

Thierry Henry’s warning to Barcelona over Yamal

Henry recommended that viewers watch a documentary about Bojan about how the former striker had faced anguish at Barcelona at a very young age, due to the fame and expectations built around him.

Bojan was indeed once considered the next big thing at Barcelona after Lionel Messi – a predicament faced by Yamal in today’s date. Many even expected Bojan and Messi to lead the way forward for Barça in the years to come.

But fate had other ideas, as Bojan struggled to cope with expectations and eventually faded out of relevance.

“You can see what can happen to you when you’re young and you don’t know how to deal with everything,” Henry explained (h/t SPORT).

“Everything is happening very quickly. He [Bojan] got lost in terms of anxiety and not wanting to be seen too much,” he added.

Yamal must not follow in the footsteps of Bojan, warns Henry (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Henry pointed out =how easily people can ignore the fact that Lamine Yamal is still just 17 and is not yet even an adult.

“That is something that sometimes people do not understand and do not want to understand because they see you there, you are playing and they forget that he is a child who went from not being known to everyone thinking he is good. Which by the way, is good,” he said.

“I have already experienced this before and, by the way, I want to congratulate Bojan for the way he speaks in the documentary, above all it was difficult to deal with all the external pressure,” he added.

From starting out with ten goals in the 2006/07 season, Bojan, at a point, struggled to even establish himself as a first-team regular, before eventually leaving Barcelona in 2014, for a fee of just €1.8 million.

Henry, who played with Bojan during his career, pointed out that, “Bojan refused to go to the Euros. He paid the price of becoming a star too quickly.”

Bojan’s post-football life, though, has been quite eventful, with the forward currently serving as the football co-ordinator for Barcelona and is a key member of the club’s scouting team.