It's the second international break of the 2025-26 season and Lamine Yamal has a week off. That's good news from the perspective of the 18-year-old really needing it, but the bad news for the Barcelona and Spain forward is that he will spend it recovering from injury after suffering a groin issue during the Champions League defeat against Paris Saint-Germain last Wednesday.

Lamal's groin injury could simply be down to bad luck and the rigors of top-level football, but when the teenager's incredible appearance numbers are factored in -- 130 senior games and 8,158 minutes on the pitch by his 18th birthday -- the shadow of burnout and the danger of football running its bigger young star into the ground becomes a worrying possibility.

No other elite footballer has registered anywhere

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