Happy New Year Hansi Flick as Barcelona get Lamine Yamal injury boost

Lamine Yamal is set to give his manager Hansi Flick a big new year's gift.

Barcelona ended 2024 in pretty miserable form but are set to receive a big boost to start 2025 as Lamine Yamal recovers from injury.

Lamine Yamal injured his ankle during Barcelona's 0-1 home loss to Leganes in the middle of December and expected to be out for between four and six weeks.

However Javi Miguel reports that tests run on the teenager's ankle have revealed that it is now fully stable.

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This means that he can soon resume training, and will be available for the Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Athletic Club on January 8.

If that's true it means that the only match Lamine Yamal will miss is the Copa del Rey tie against lower league UD Barbastro.

Lamine-dependencia

This is incredible news for Barcelona given they have, quite ridiculously, not won a single game in La Liga this season when Lamine Yamal has not started.

As talented as Lamine Yamal is, it seems impossible that an elite club could rely so much on a 17 year-old winger, and yet these are the five games he hasn't started:

vs. Osasuna - lost 4-2 (played 31 minutes, scored a goal)

vs. Real Sociedad - lost 1-0

vs. Celta Vigo - drew 2-2

vs. Las Palmas - lost 1-2 (played 45 minutes)

vs. Atletico Madrid - lost 0-1

Barcelona failed to pick up points in any of them.

Ansu Fati: a 2024 to forget

While Lamine Yamal is thriving, Barcelona's previous teenage prodigy is having a much more difficult time of things.

On social media much has been made of Jack Grealish's lack of competitive goals for Man City in 2024 (he has scored twice for England and once in a City friendly).

But Ansu Fati has surpassed that and not scored at all, for anyone, in 2024.

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Ansu Fati spent last season on loan at Brighton, but his last goal for the Seagulls was away to Ajax in the Europa League on November 9, 2023.

His last league goal was a late consolation away to Grealish's Man City themselves on October 21 (the Englishman's last competitive goal for City was on December 16, 2023).

Injury has been the main reason for Ansu Fati's problems, of course, and should serve as a warning to Lamine Yamal to take his physical health very seriously and perhaps rushing back to play in the Spanish Super Cup is not the smartest idea.