Rocafonda, Spain – The entrance web page of Spain’s largest sports activities tabloid Marca screamed LAMINE YA! (Lamine Now!) as hypothesis mounted over whether or not the teenage marvel boy would signal a brand new contract for FC Barcelona.
Lamine Yamal is predicted to resume his contract with Barcelona earlier than he turns 18 in July, his agent Jorge Mendes assured reporters final week.
Deco, the sporting director of Barca, denied stories that Yamal’s agent had requested that the 17-year-old be made the very best paid participant within the dressing room, whereas Spanish media speculated that he might look ahead to a 10-fold pay enhance to greater than 15 million euros ($17m) internet per season.
Regardless of the astronomical sums concerned in signing the gifted winger who helped Barca clinch the La Liga title this season, it’s going to appear a world away from the very humble beginnings of this Spanish sporting prodigy.
Yamal grew up in a poor space of Mataro, an industrial city positioned about 32km (20 miles) north of Barcelona, however it’s a world away from the glitz and glamour of the Catalan capital.
The Barca footballer realized his craft on the streets of Rocafonda, a working-class neighbourhood of Mataro.
About half of the 11,000 individuals who stay on this nook of Mataro are labeled as “susceptible to poverty”, based on the Spanish Nationwide Statistics Institute. Many flats seem run down and lack fundamental modern-day facilities like lifts. One centre in Rocafonda provides assist to kids who’re struggling in school.
With 88 totally different nationalities within the space, Arabic halal butchers are a standard sight.
Evictions are a each day prevalence in Rocafonda as many households battle to pay the hire, which averages about $1,334 per thirty days, a fortune to many.
Gen-next inspiration
Nonetheless, soccer – or relatively Yamal – provides folks hope right here.
“In Rocafonda, extra Lamine Yamals and fewer evictions”, reads the graffiti on the Membership de Futbol Rocafonda, the municipal soccer pitch.
Kids play close by, maybe dreaming that possibly, simply possibly, they could possibly be the subsequent Lamine Yamal.
Sporting an Argentina shirt, Mohammed Kaddouri, who’s a yr youthful than Yamal, says the Barca soccer participant is an inspiration to younger folks right here.
“Since Lamine, so many individuals have began enjoying soccer and consider they could possibly be like him. It’s not simply boys however extra women are enjoying soccer too,” he says.
His good friend Damia Castillo, additionally 16, met Yamal when he got here again to see his household, who nonetheless stay within the neighbourhood.
“He at all times talks to us like he’s a standard particular person, not like he’s some huge star. He’s from right here, and so are we. It makes you suppose, you realize, possibly it could possibly be me,” Castillo advised Al Jazeera.
The Messi impact
Associates stated Yamal owes his precocious skills to a baptism of fireplace enjoying within the powerful streets of Rocafonda.
“Lamine realized to play so nicely as a result of he began enjoying with greater children. A few of these have been greater than him, and a few of them have been powerful children,” says household good friend Mohammed Ben Serghine.
“Regardless of what has occurred to him with all this fame, he has remained humble, and he’s good with the youngsters when he comes again to Rocafonda to see his household.”
We meet within the Bar El Cordobes, the native bar frequented by Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, who pops in on occasion.
On the wall is a yellowing Barca shirt signed by Yamal and replete along with his {photograph}.
Final yr, the Spain winger’s father printed {a photograph} on social media of his son, which was taken when he was a child.
Yamal was cradled by then-Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi. He wrote on social media: “Two beginnings of two legends. It now seems amazingly prescient.”
The Argentina celebrity was 20 on the time and had taken half in a promotional marketing campaign for FC Barcelona for UNICEF. Yamal was solely 5 months outdated when his mother and father entered him right into a raffle and he was paired up with Messi. Yamal’s smiles gained over a nervous Messi on the photoshoot.
Statistically, Yamal is forward of Messi for a 17-year-old participant, based on soccer author Ryan O’Hanlon of ESPN.
“Broadly, that is the conclusion: [Michael] Owen, Kylian Mbappe and Yamal are one of the best youngsters in trendy soccer historical past,” he wrote, basing these assertions on the variety of targets and assists.
‘304’ celebration
Rocafonda may need been forgotten, like many different fringe, outer-suburban Barcelona neighbourhoods, have been it not for Yamal himself.
On the partitions, somebody has painted the quantity 304. It would simply be graffiti, apart from one factor. When Yamal scored a marvel purpose in opposition to France within the Euro 2024 final yr, he celebrated by making the signal three, zero, 4 along with his fingers. It was a reference to the postcode of Rocafonda, which in full reads 08304.
Because the world was transfixed by Yamal’s dazzling abilities, it was an indication that even when footballers can anticipate seven- and even eight-figure salaries, some haven’t forgotten their roots.
On the Bar Familia L Y 304 Rocafonda, run by the participant’s uncle, Abdul, you’re left in little question that Yamal stays trustworthy to the place he got here from.
Decked out in pictures of Yamal and signed shirts, in a single nook is a tiny, plastic model of the World Cup. It begs the thought: would possibly Yamal in the future elevate the actual factor for Spain?
Household is every thing
The participant’s personal story begins 30 years in the past when his maternal grandmother, Fatima, arrived from Morocco and took up a job in an outdated folks’s residence.
She labored to convey her seven kids over from Morocco and managed as a single mom.
Yamal’s mom, Sheila Ebana, is from Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony in Western Africa. The participant’s mother and father divorced, and when she moved away from Rocafonda, she enrolled him in Membership de Futbol La Torreta in Granollers, a close-by city.
Yamal speaks fondly about his mom, who gave him one of the best childhood she might regardless of the difficulties she confronted.
“Perhaps I didn’t have one of the best childhood, however I didn’t see it. I solely noticed the attractive, because of her,” he stated in an Instagram interview with person tumejorjugada.
Life for each mother and father has modified dramatically since their son turned a celebrity.
Ebana now has 258,000 followers on Instagram and has moved to Barcelona. His father has additionally moved to the Catalan capital.
Altering expectations
Yamal began enjoying for CF La Torreta, a small membership with 200 gamers, when he was solely 5.
On the window of the membership, there’s a {photograph} of the participant when he arrived as a small youngster and one other more moderen one.
“He got here right here when he was 5 years outdated and stayed simply two years earlier than Barcelona got here for him,” says Jordi Vizcaino, president of CF La Torreta.
“I nonetheless can hardly consider it once I see how far he has gone, once I see Yamal enjoying for Barca and Spain. He was only a child when he got here right here and continues to be only a child actually.”
Rocio Escandell, president of the Affiliation of Rocafonda Neighbours, has identified Yamal and his household all his life.
“Lamine has put Rocafonda on the world map. It’s a working-class space with a lot of migrants, however he has made folks right here consider they are often one thing. It doesn’t must be a footballer. It may be a physician. Simply to consider,” she advised Al Jazeera.
Her nine-year-old daughter, Abril, is proof of how Yamal has modified expectations.
“I’ve been enjoying soccer since I used to be small, and I rating an increasing number of targets. When I’m older, I need to be like Lamine,” says Abril.
