Luis de la Fuente to Yamal: If you can play for Barça, then you can play for us

Lamine Yamal spoke with the coach on Thursday to tell him that he was feeling discomfort. His response was: "If you can play for Barcelona, you can play for us."

The relationship between the RFEF and FC Barcelona is not precisely going through its best moment. The culprit, without a doubt, is the management of Lamine Yamal. Since the player was injured against Bulgaria, the distancing between the blaugrana club and Luis de la Fuente has become as evident as it is public.

The final chapter of this disagreement took place this week. Lamine ended the match against PSG with discomfort in the pubis. The following day, he got in touch with the coach to explain that he was experiencing discomfort and that it would be best to rest for the next two weeks. De la Fuente's response, as AS has been able to learn, was that if he could play against Sevilla, he could also play with the national team.

When Lamine informed the club of De la Fuente's reaction, the sports director of FC Barcelona, Deco, contacted his counterpart at the national team, Aitor Karanka, to explain to him that the forward was not fit to play with the national team. Karanka was just as unsympathetic as the coach.

The indignation at FC Barcelona came on Friday, when De la Fuente made the call-up, including Lamine. From the club, it was seen as a provocation on the part of the coach, especially because he ignored the request of his player not to be called up. In this regard, from the club they recall that De la Fuente argued that Lamine had the final say to play against Turkey, while now the player's word seemed to be more of a formality than anything else.

The club's response to Lamine's call-up was not long in coming, sending an official medical statement in which it specified a recurrence of his pubalgia and a recovery period of two to three weeks. The RFEF decided to withdraw Lamine from the squad, but dropping a hint that if the information had reached them earlier, it would not have been necessary to reach this point. At the club, for their part, they deny that the RFEF requested any medical report from them, as they considered that the player's word asking not to be called up was already sufficient and that the coach would not turn a deaf ear to his footballer's request, especially because, according to De la Fuente himself, the priority is to take care of his players.