Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has criticised the lack of communication with Barcelona over Lamine Yamal‘s fitness, saying the national team “should have been told beforehand” about the treatment which saw him released from the camp on Monday.
Yamal was named in the Spain squad for games against Georgia and Turkey during this international break, but underwent what the Spanish football federation called “an invasive radiofrequency procedure” on Monday which requires between seven and 10 days’ rest.
The Ballon d’Or runner-up had featured three times for Barcelona in the last week — playing 88 minutes against Elche, 90 minutes against Club Brugge and 89 minutes against Celta Vigo — having struggled with a groin problem in recent months.
“Lamine joined up because we didn’t know there was any problem,” De la Fuente told Cadena COPE radio on Tuesday night.
“He didn’t know exactly what had been done. He didn’t know the recovery process, or the consequences. And we didn’t know anything. He had to go home.”
Lamine Yamal surprised the Spanish national team on Monday by pulling out of the squad due to injury. EyesWideOpen/Getty Images
Managing Yamal’s fitness has been an ongoing issue this season, with Barça coach Hansi Flick accusing the national team of “not taking care” of the player in September, and Yamal then being forced to withdraw from the next Spain squad, in October.
“We have to take care of [Yamal],” Flick said on Saturday. “I think he comes back to the best level, but it’s not over, so it’s not done, this injury. We have to take care of him, not just us, also the national team.”
De la Fuente sought to play down the row on Tuesday, denying that he was unhappy with Flick’s handling of the issue.
“What there needs to be is communication, a good relationship, sharing information,” De la Fuente said. “And in this case, there wasn’t… I can’t say if [the procedure] was supposed to be done or not, that’s down to his club.
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“We didn’t know that it was going to be done, beforehand. We should have been told about the treatment before, not afterwards.”
On Wednesday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta denied that the Catalan club withheld information from the federation, telling Catalunya Radio that “we notified them as soon as we found out.
“When the doctor who treated him told us that he would need 10 days’ rest, we informed the national team. We are respectful to everyone, we are not trying to cause problems. We are trying to cure our players at a pace that is in our best interests,” Laporta said.
“This doctor arrived on Monday, he is an expert and he recommended this treatment. We want Lamine to be available for the club. The [timing of] rest has coincided with the national team matches but I don’t think it will hurt the team’s chances of [World Cup] qualifying because they are well along. We are doing what we have to do for the best interests of Barça.”
Yamal has been a key player for De la Fuente’s Spain, starring as they won Euro 2024 and reached the 2025 UEFA Nations League final, ahead of next year’s World Cup.
The coach denied that he felt he’d been shown “a lack of respect” by Barcelona in this latest row.
“There’s something much more important than Luis de la Fuente, which is the feelings of a country, a national team,” he said. “That’s what is lacking … I need to stay calm. My position doesn’t allow me to be histrionic, or excitable. It’s a big responsibility. I’m representing a whole country.”
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