Lamine Yamal shares which player he would ‘love’ for Barcelona to sign this summer
Lamine Yamal is busy playing for Spain at the World Cup, but the young Barcelona star is also watching closely as his club works on new signings to help him achieve his dream of winning the Champions League with Barcelona.
Hansi Flick has already led the team to two La Liga titles in a row, and he wants to become the first coach since Pep Guardiola to win three straight league titles with the club, just like between 2008 and 2011.
To make this happen and boost their chances of winning the Champions League for the first time since 2015, Barcelona will be active in the transfer market to strengthen their squad.
They’ve already signed Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United this summer, but Yamal, the club’s rising star, hopes there will be more players coming in. In fact, the 18-year-old shared the one player he really wants to see join the team.
Talking to Cadena SER, he said, “I’m not thinking about it too much, but I’d love it, because Julian Alvarez is a great player. If he comes, we’ll welcome him with open arms. If I were him, I’d do it. We’ll be waiting for him if he wants to come. I say, go for it.”
Julian Alvarez has said he’d love to move from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona this summer. Argentine football legend Maxi Rodriguez also thinks the two clubs should agree on a deal for the 26-year-old.
However, Barcelona isn’t the only club interested in Alvarez. Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, and Real Madrid — who had a €150 million (£171m) offer rejected recently — are all eager to sign him for next season.
While Yamal is excited about the idea of playing alongside Alvarez at Barcelona, his main focus right now is helping Spain win their second World Cup.
He added, “International football is different from club football. I’m gaining experience and learning how to manage coming back from injury. Now I feel great, and I’m really looking forward to Thursday.”
Spain will face Austria in the round of 32 on Thursday. The team is aiming to show they deserve to be seen as top contenders. So far, they’ve gotten good results, but some fans think their play hasn’t been quite impressive yet.
Yamal said, “It’s true that everyone expected us to play better, but we faced all kinds of teams, none from Europe. They were tough matches, especially the third one with a lot of stoppages. The game against Saudi Arabia was good, and the Cape Verde match was the opener.”
“I don’t think we’ve played our best match yet… Once we find our rhythm — and we definitely will — we’ll be almost unstoppable.”