Morocco coach Wahid Regragui says he tried everything to get Barcelona whiz Lamine Yamal to commit the Atlas Lions.
Yamal is now well-established with Spain, winning the Euros last summer, but also could’ve been ferried away by the nation of his parents as a younger player.
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Regragui recalled to El Chiringuito: “Yamal is a generational crack. We tried to make him choose Morocco, he chose differently and we wished him the best with Spain, what he does at his age is incredible.”
He also revealed: “I spoke directly with Lamine, we presented him with the project he would find with Morocco, with the African Cup that we will play at home and the 2030 World Cup with the affection that the Moroccan people could give him.
“After 2-3 days he called me and said: ‘Mister, thank you for the esteem, but I feel Spanish and I would like to play with Spain’, he told me this even though he was not playing with the senior national team at the time, but he wanted to get there.
“Did I also speak to his family? I spoke to him, his family and his lawyer. All the Moroccans wanted us to convince him, we did everything we could.”
