EA FC 24: Why Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal won’t feature in the game when it is released

Highlights Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old wonderkid, won’t feature in the upcoming EA FC 24 game when it is released.
Even though Yamal can’t be played in the game, his predicted stats show great potential, with high ratings for pace, dribbling, and skill moves.
Yamal recently made his Champions League debut for Barcelona, becoming the second-youngest player to feature in the competition. Despite a mixed performance, his future looks promising.
Lamine Yamal has been on fire ever since he broke into the Barcelona first team. But the 16-year-old will not feature in EA FC 24 when it is released.
It will come as a slight disappointment for the youngster, who has become one of the hottest wonderkids in world football in the past few months. Yamal has shattered records at his club, becoming the youngest player to feature for Barcelona’s first team after coming on as a substitute in the club’s 4-0 win against Real Betis in April this year. He was just 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old.
The winger then followed that up by becoming the youngest player to start in La Liga for Barcelona during their 2-0 victory against Cadiz at just 16 years and 38 days old. Shortly after that, the La Masia graduate became Spain’s youngest-ever debutant and goalscorer, coming off the bench to score the final goal in La Roja’s 7-1 victory against Georgia.
Why Yamal will not feature in EA FC 24
It’s been incredible to watch Yamal look so comfortable among senior pros for both his club and country from the outset on his many debuts. But one breakthrough appearance that he will have to wait for will be on the latest installment of EA’s football game series.
Unfortunately for the star, he is currently ineligible to feature in the franchise because he is still too young. According to AS, EA have a policy that all available players in the game have to be at least 17 years old.
Having only turned 16 in July this year, Yamal won’t be available to players for another 10 months! By that point, most attention will have turned to the next game in the series. Although if EA decides to drop a special Ultimate Team card for the Barcelona man, you can be sure a few players will jump onto the game to get their hands on it.
His predicted stats look great
It’s a shame that people won’t have the opportunity to use Yamal in the game for many months, especially because his predicted stats look incredible. Twitter user @FUTxGG thinks that Yamal will be given a 78-rated gold card, even though he is still in the early stages of his career.
Yamal’s pace is expected to be his standout quality, with an overall rating of 90 putting him up there with some of the quickest players in the game. His dribbling stats all look very promising too, with an overall rating of 81, but there is room to improve in other areas.
Impressively, the 16-year-old has been predicted to have five-star skill moves and four-star weak foot too. So if he does get any in-game upgrades, he will be a very usable card indeed.
Read More: EA Sports FC 24 Player Ratings: Top 100, Premier League and More
Champions League debut checked off
Upgrades won’t be hard to come by either given how frequently he has been playing. He has already made six appearances for Barcelona this season, most recently in their 5-0 Champions League victory against Royal Antwerp.
Yamal came off the bench for a short cameo and had a mixed showing. In 22 minutes, he played 13 successful passes, won three out of his four duels, and completed all of his dribbles, but he missed two chances to add to Barcelona’s lead.
Lamine Yamal stats vs Antwerp (Sofascore) Rating 6.2 Pass completion 81% Duels contested (won) 4 (3) Dribble attempts (successful) 3 (3) Big chances missed 2
That appearance made him the second-youngest player to ever feature in the competition, with only Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko younger on his Champions League debut. He might not have been at his best, but given everything that has gone his way thus far, we can expect him to do great things in Europe’s most prestigious competition.