Yahoo Sports Barcelona ace was playing through discomfort before fresh injury setback; will not rush recovery
Barcelona rising star Lamine Yamal’s 2024 is set to come to a bittersweet end, with the winger celebrating his Golden Boy Award triumph while dealing with the disappointment of an ankle injury that has put him out for 3-4 weeks.
The 17-year-old La Masia sensation sustained the injury this past Sunday vs Leganes after being on the receiving end of a strong tackle from an opposition player.
The talismanic teenager’s injury comes as a blow to Barça as he will miss the crucial game against Atletico Madrid this week as well as a couple more matches in early January.
Lamine was already carrying an injury
Following this setback, SPORT’s Toni Juanmarti now reports that Lamine Yamal had been playing while not fully fit before getting injured against Leganes.
After his first ankle injury, which caused him to miss three games, Lamine returned quickly, eager to help his teammates. The youngster did look out of sorts on his return vs Las Palmas but regained his form in the following match against Mallorca.
In reality, the 2024 Golden Boy winner had been playing while still dealing with ankle discomfort. Though the pain had significantly improved, it had not fully subsided.
In fact, the plan for the Leganes game was for him to rest in the second half, if the result was secured. Unfortunately, the tackle caused another sprain in his ankle.
At half-time on Sunday, the player insisted on continuing, but it became evident he was not fit to carry on and was taken off in the 75th minute.
No rushing back this time
The report states that Lamine will wear a protective boot in the coming days and has been advised to rest completely for now.
The Barcelona winger is determined to listen to his body and not rush back to action as he understands the priority is his ankle.
The 17-year-old has seen first-hand in the case of Frenkie de Jong that injuries which are not fully healed can become a big cause of concern.
Yamal realises that he has many years ahead of him and cannot afford to risk aggravating his ankle problems. As such, his participation in the Spanish Super Cup is now up in the air despite previous optimism.
