Soccer's Surge in the U.S. and the Quest for a "Young Messi"

 

Lamine Yamal: A New Star from La Masia

The soccer world is buzzing with excitement over 17-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has won the 2024 Kopa Trophy for best young player I the world. The Barcelona winger possesses blistering pace, authentic vision of the game, and extraordinary technical ability, and has already drawn comparisons to the great Lionel Messi, who also went on an extraordinary journey at the same club. Messi’s upbringing was shaped by participating in a growth hormone treatment study conducted in the 1990s that was meant to address a medical condition with the potential to disrupt his physical growth. 

That, combined with access to La Masia, a world-class soccer academy in Barcelona, turned a small kid from Argentina into a global sports icon. Yamal was raised in La Masia and demonstrates the seemingly endless flow of talent that this academy produces. Yamal’s 2024 Kopa victory is validation not only for his individual giftedness, but also for the system surrounding him, including the holistic way that Spanish soccer develops players from an emphasis on technical skills to tactical awareness, and combined with the lessons learned by competing…

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