Former Barcelona player and coach Carles Rexach recently reopened the debate about Lamine Yamal’s best position at Barcelona.
The teenager has primarily been used on the right wing by the Liga giants, but
Rexach believes he should be moved into a central role.
“I wouldn’t mind a change of position for Lamine,” he wrote in his Mundo Deportivo column. “I once told my son I’d put (Ousmane) Dembele at centre forward, and now Luis Enrique has put him there at Paris Saint-Germain and he keeps scoring goals.
“I think Lamine would also enjoy it more, and he’d touch the ball more in that position. Sometimes on the wing you don’t touch the ball. Although it’s true that it might solve one problem and we’d have another.”
Rexach’s recognition that moving Yamal from the right wing would have a knock-on effect on the team is unquestionably the key takeaway from his comments.
Yamal has been extremely productive for Barcelona on the flank, bagging 28 goals and 39 assists in 114 appearances in all competitions.
Inevitable comparisons have already been made with Barca legend Lionel Messi, particularly regarding what they each achieved before celebrating their 18th birthdays.
Yamal, who turned 18 in July, had scored 24 goals in 105 appearances by the time he officially became an adult. By contrast, Messi had only scored once in nine senior matches.
The Spanish international won five major trophies with Barcelona and Spain before turning 18, further cementing his status as a talismanic figure for club and country.
However, despite Rexach tipping Yamal to sparkle in a central role, manager Hansi Flick would be well advised to resist the temptation at the moment.
It is difficult to imagine the teenager flourishing as a centre-forward in a 4-3-3 system. He is not physical enough to handle the role and pressing in that position would be an issue.
A 4-2-3-1 set-up would potentially be more viable, although switching Yamal away from the right flank would create a sizeable problem on that side of the pitch.
There is nobody else in the squad who can play effectively out of the press on the right-hand side as Yamal does and moving him would impact Barcelona’s build up play.
Roony Bardghji has been touted as a potential option on the right wing, but he lacks the speed to do what Yamal does when Barcelona attempt to beat the press.
Rexach’s use of Dembele as an example is extremely questionable given that he was not utilised centrally until he had plenty of experience under his belt.
The Frenchman has become more streetwise as his career has progressed, yet showed little signs that he would be comfortable playing centrally when he was younger.
Comparing Yamal to Messi is also fraught with danger. The Argentinian star demonstrated from an early age that he was adept at finding space, regardless of where he was on the pitch.
Yamal generally sparks into life when in possession rather than off the ball, which makes him a risky proposition if he is utilised centrally.
In some respects, suggesting that Yamal should be moved from the right wing is driven by the need to find a long-term replacement for striker Robert Lewandowski.
The Poland international is out of contract at the end of the season and the club are reportedly unlikely to offer him an extension, and have been linked with different strikers across Europe, although an internal solution could also be on the cards.
Flick has indicated that Ferran Torres could be a long-term replacement for Lewandowski, which would be a shrewd move if that is the route he goes down.
Torres boasts a similar profile to the Pole in several key metrics and his greater experience gives him a significant edge over Yamal as a centre forward.
Yamal could eventually switch into a central role in 4-2-3-1 system, but Barcelona would need to ensure that the attacking players surrounding him are suitable to accommodate the move.
The teenager has plenty of time to develop his skills on the right wing, before transitioning into a central role when he has more experience under his belt.
While Yamal has shown that he can handle pressure situations, moving into the position graced by Messi would unquestionably place additional weight on his shoulders.
Barcelona must be mindful that Yamal still has a long career ahead of him and he can become a central playmaker a little further down the line.
