Lamine Yamal, who left all of Spain speechless when at 16 he became the team’s youngest scorer, has once again gained all the attention this week. On the one hand, the footballer has signed a million-dollar contract with Barcelona. He will wear the shirt with the number 10, thus receiving Messi’s legacy in the team.
But there is also a darker part to the story. The celebration of his 18th birthday has been blown up his image in the press, starring in moments of waste, which have been crowned with mockery of a person with achondroplasia who, although he voluntarily collaborated with the celebration, has not stopped causing blisters. The footballer has defended himself by ensuring that in his life outside of sport “he can do whatever he wants”, but public opinion has not stopped putting pressure on him.
At Bodymente, we consulted with psychologist Lara Ferreiro, author of Not one more cunt!: The definitive method to love yourself and find your perfect partner for understand how fame, money and rapid social advancement can impact the mind of a young person who is still 18 years old, and who has been exposed to cameras since he was 16.
The social climb
It is easy to harshly judge acts like those carried out by Lamine Yamal this week on social networks. The court is already considering a considerable fine that will punish, if appropriate, any act of discrimination. But beyond the clear social and structural component that allows a person with achondroplasia to become the center of a show of laughter and jokes, a reality hides behind all this controversy. An 18-year-old young man has become a star in record timeachieving fame and wealth that few can sustain.
The phenomenon, says psychologist Lara Ferreiro, already has a name, because it is not the first time it has happened. “He could have what is popularly known as Justin Bieber syndrome,” explains the psychologist, «the pretty boy who later ends up in addictions. To Macaulay Culkin, the boy of alone at homethe same thing happened to him.”
These types of profiles coincide with Lamine’s rapid rise to fame, something that according to Ferreiro can cause “an identity crisis. Because the prefrontal cortex, the area of logic that makes sensible decisions and controls impulses, does not finish forming until he is 25, and he is only 18.”
Another syndrome that could affect the soccer player is Hubris, explains the expert, “which It is that of the excessive ego. People who believe they are above good and evil. He has the risk of dissociating reality, of thinking that he is the chosen one and that he deserves everything. Being a mass idol, that excessive ego can make him narcissistic.”
Media pressure
This risk of excessive ego has an opposite pole, which also worries the psychologist. “The media and social pressure, which your life is watched by millions of peoplecould lead to the opposite, to suffering from imposter syndrome and believing that you don’t deserve what you are receiving,» he says.
This can be made even worse by el “disagreement with their peers”. As the psychologist explains, «while his friends prepare the EVAU, he plays with the elite. That can generate social isolation.»
The number 10
The case of Lamine Yamal adds something that rarely happens in the history of football. The young man signs for Barcelona with the number 10 on his back, a number that Messi wore before him. The psychologist explains to us that “The number 10 symbolically represents leadership.. It is not a shirt, it is an emotional burden, a slab, which activates the constant comparison with Messi, who is the best in the history of the world. This can give you anxiety about performance, it can be counterproductive. I would never have given him that number.”
In fact, he assures, this decision can be dangerous, because it is what in sports psychology “is known as symbolic perverse overload. The liability of a symbol can affect your performance. “It is a very unfair burden for him.”
The nouveau riche syndrome
All of the above factors inevitably lead back to the party. And Lara Ferreiro is clear that, against the speech of Yamal and her family, “not everything goesthere are much healthier ways to have fun, and he is a model for many young people. For him to do that is a shame.”
From a psychological perspective, however, we could be facing the nouveau riche syndrome. “It is emotional immaturity, camouflaged with power,” explains the expert, ““A big party doesn’t have to involve what happened.”
This way of acting could have to do with the rapid economic rise. “Now he starts spending, he does eccentricities to fill voids, and that implies a risk. AND is the addiction to stimulationto euphoria, to that dopamine. It is a reflection of the culture of entertainment, of being constantly talked about.”
Because for Lara, there is no doubt, so much ostentation hides something much deeper. «The life of a footballer is very lonely, because they have to go to many places, to World Cups, to gatherings of people. But behind them there are an emotional loneliness masked by crowds«, of feeling surrounded, but being more alone than ever,» he says. «The desire for recognition as a mechanism of lack of self-esteem is also present, that need to feel valuable.»
All of this could lead, in turn, to “defensive narcissism,” in which the person becomes selfish to protect themselves. “This early fame can take a heavy toll on him psychologically,” concludes the expert, “because sometimes money covers things up, but it only does so temporarily.”
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