Luis de la Fuente Reveals the Plan With Lamine Yamal After His Injury on the Road to the 2026 World Cup

Luis De la Fuente and Lamine Yamal heading to the 2026 World Cup

The coach Luis de la Fuente confirmed that the recovery of Lamine Yamal, injured and out for the rest of the season with Barcelona, will be handled with caution with an eye on the 2026 World Cup in North America. From the AFA of the Spanish coaching staff, the idea is to manage the workload of the 18-year-old winger so that he arrives in the best condition for the decisive stage of the tournament.

Although Yamal's absence is a blow for Barcelona in the final stretch of La Liga and the fans lament his absence, the national team is already working with the expectation that the young player can join the World Cup squad. De la Fuente suggested that, beyond his current physical condition, the player's contribution could be more valuable in specific minutes than in full matches during the group stage.

The plan for Lamine Yamal

According to Sport, the coach explained at a recent event that the intention is for Yamal to gradually enter the initial phase of the World Cup and that his presence in the starting eleven will be reserved for the knockout stages, when the team needs his impact. The coach recalled previous cases, such as Dani Olmo's, to justify the strategy: players who are not at one hundred percent can offer 15 or 20 minutes of very high level that are decisive.

"In each call-up, we anticipate all scenarios: whether you are winning, losing, or if the opponent is left with ten players." "There are players who give you 20 minutes, and that's worth gold," De la Fuente pointed out, emphasizing the importance of planning different tactical and physical alternatives. The coach insisted that patience is key: they would prefer to manage Yamal's playing time now to have him at his best during the qualifiers and thus maximize his chances of influencing the key matches.

Warnings from the medical team

In the same vein, the national team's doctor, Óscar Celada, called for caution and warned that recovering from an injury does not automatically mean regaining peak performance. Celada emphasized that the World Cup schedule, with matches every three or four days, requires rotation and leaves little margin for error in the physical management of the players. "The biggest risk when returning is suffering another injury," he stated, and explained that the national team maintains daily monitoring of the players' progress in constant contact with the clubs, beyond the occasional reports.

The coaching staff's stance is clear: prioritize health and performance at the decisive moment. If everything goes as planned, Yamal could become an impactful asset for Spain in the knockout phase, bringing freshness and imbalance in the minutes when the match requires it.

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