I’m all for protecting Yamal at his age — but that’s because he is still a literal child. Not really convinced by this shadows of themselves by 30 talk. If Rooney started at 20 and finished at 34 instead of 17 and 30 it’s just a much of a muchness. Rooney and Fabregas both played an awful amount of football at the highest level. They declined early, sure, but that’s because of the obvious answer of them peaking earlier. In the grand scheme, the total amount of football was on par with the vast bulk of the other quality players of their generation who came through a few years after them. (Outside of freak outliers like Ronaldo, Modric etc)
——
Yamal’s was key to winning Spain a European title and is Barcelona’s best player. Putting him on the bench for Ferran Torres just isn’t really going to fly. The expectations have been set for both player and club (and nation).