Lamine Yamal is fresh off his breakout season with Barcelona. The 16-year-old dazzled in the Blaugrana jersey, earning a starting role in Xavi‘s setup.
His performance also earned him a call-up for the national team, making him the youngest Spanish player to debut and score a goal for the side.
Even with the world at his feet, Lamine Yamal was unable to get a slot on the EA FC 24 roster.
But that changed with the Euro 2024 update of the game and now, Yamal is a playable option in that specific mode only.
If you thought that’d please the ever-demanding fan base of the gaming franchise, think again.
As soon as Yamal’s EA FC 24 render came to the public eyes, there was no shortage of backlash from the fans.
EA Sports is notorious for messing up renders of notable players throughout the years (formerly in FIFA editions) and Lamine Yamal became the most recent victim of it.
The mockery of the render kicked off on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and it made a permanent place in the wall of shame of EA FC’s woeful graphic works.
The actual render added by EA FC was compared with the modded versions of the same and there was no doubt about how badly the devs messed up. But did they really mess it up? The answer is no.
Lamine Yamal will turn 17 on July 13. Due to the policies, EA FC cannot generate revenue by using the likeness of a minor.
This is why EA FC cannot scan his face to use his actual render like they do with the other legally eligible players.
The same happened with Ansu Fati when he was not included in the players’ roster of FIFA 20.
So the gamers can expect that his actual render will be updated after next month and a face similar to his will be used in the game.
The age barrier also affected his Barcelona contract as his agent, Jorge Mendes, could not get any sort of bonus from his latest extension with the Catalan club.
His contract has a release clause of €1 billion, and it would probably be safe to guess that Yamal isn’t moving out of Barcelona anytime soon.
For the EA FC 24 players who remained unfazed by the render, can use Yamal’s 76 rated card.
82 pace and 72 shooting is nothing to set the world alight, but the presence can be appreciated.
Most players using Spain in the Euro 2024 mode will probably stick with the pacey Ferran Torres, Nico Williams or a well-rounded Mikel Oyarzabal.
Spain will start their 2024 Euro campaign on June 15 against Croatia in group B, which features Italy and Albania as well.
While Spain might be in a group of death with fellow European heavyweights, solid showings from Yamal in the tournament could lead to various highly rated special cards in future but only after his 17th birthday.
