1? - Lamine Yamal

Andresito

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
He's definitely top 3. Stat and status wise top 1.

I think he wins the Messi comparison. It should be fairly easy to compare since they played for same club. Sure there was more competition for Messi but he was in and out of the first team at 17 so he got his chances to prove himself. It's not like Yamal got a free ticket to a starting spot, he showed he deserved it.

A highly hypothetical question is whether 16/17 year old Messi would have the same impact as today's Yamal in this squad. I think Yamal is more mature for his age while Messi was a lot more raw despite having more talent.

A more difficult comparison is Ronaldo who was scoring 1 goal per game in Brazil at 17 and later PSV at 18 and 19. Is that more impressive than what Yamal is doing for Barca and done for Spain? Subjective.
 
JohnN

JohnN

Senior Member
I haven't seen a better youngster in my time.
Talent wise he is up there with the best and stats wise beyond anyone.
Even getting into the same conversation as Messi, says a lot about his potential.
This doesn't mean he will ever be as good as Prime Messi or Neymar, but we are so lucky to have another generational Talent, as well as another great la masia crop.
 
companyofcules

companyofcules

Well-known member
He is not top 10 as a talent. Given, he plays vs mature players. But I didn't see it in Masia too.

He is the best as end product and maturity.
I don't see how he will learn to drible in the future, or accelerate, his league is CR7, maybe Pele. He can have insane stats(but I doubt his environment). He is a great finisher and has the skills to be in the danger zone or to create danger, but it's not a storm on it's own.
 
Masetro10

Masetro10

Member
Andresito said:
He's definitely top 3. Stat and status wise top 1.

I think he wins the Messi comparison. It should be fairly easy to compare since they played for same club. Sure there was more competition for Messi but he was in and out of the first team at 17 so he got his chances to prove himself. It's not like Yamal got a free ticket to a starting spot, he showed he deserved it.

A highly hypothetical question is whether 16/17 year old Messi would have the same impact as today's Yamal in this squad. I think Yamal is more mature for his age while Messi was a lot more raw despite having more talent.

A more difficult comparison is Ronaldo who was scoring 1 goal per game in Brazil at 17 and later PSV at 18 and 19. Is that more impressive than what Yamal is doing for Barca and done for Spain? Subjective.
Click to expand...
R9 is still the greatest young player ever. His Barca season was just legendary. Yamal by that age could surpass him though. Maybe even easily
 
malvolio

malvolio

Senior Member
Andresito said:
He's definitely top 3. Stat and status wise top 1.

I think he wins the Messi comparison. It should be fairly easy to compare since they played for same club. Sure there was more competition for Messi but he was in and out of the first team at 17 so he got his chances to prove himself. It's not like Yamal got a free ticket to a starting spot, he showed he deserved it.

A highly hypothetical question is whether 16/17 year old Messi would have the same impact as today's Yamal in this squad. I think Yamal is more mature for his age while Messi was a lot more raw despite having more talent.

A more difficult comparison is Ronaldo who was scoring 1 goal per game in Brazil at 17 and later PSV at 18 and 19. Is that more impressive than what Yamal is doing for Barca and done for Spain? Subjective.
Click to expand...
Of course context is a big factor here.

All of Messi, Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo, Cruyff aged 17, would have been given many chances to start for current Barca and Spain. Heck, even Mbappe and Rooney would at least be in an out of the team. Neymar and Cristiano too.

Yamal benefited from the huge talent gap left by Messi and La Masia golden generation. Also, hard not to start for current Spain.

So of course his stats and stature are boosted by that.

Putting stats aside, he is a generational talent and could become one of the best players ever. But he isn't the best teenager ever.
 
companyofcules

companyofcules

Well-known member
KingLeo10 said:
Stats wise he is,

Ability wise, Messi, Maradona, R9 all clear him. Though not by much, at 17.

He’s insane.
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By much. He is very smart and good in his touches but he can't go everywhere he wants when he wants on the pitch. Messi was more chaotic at his age but the realm of possibility was infinite.
Andresito said:
He's definitely top 3. Stat and status wise top 1.

I think he wins the Messi comparison. It should be fairly easy to compare since they played for same club. Sure there was more competition for Messi but he was in and out of the first team at 17 so he got his chances to prove himself. It's not like Yamal got a free ticket to a starting spot, he showed he deserved it.

A highly hypothetical question is whether 16/17 year old Messi would have the same impact as today's Yamal in this squad. I think Yamal is more mature for his age while Messi was a lot more raw despite having more talent.

A more difficult comparison is Ronaldo who was scoring 1 goal per game in Brazil at 17 and later PSV at 18 and 19. Is that more impressive than what Yamal is doing for Barca and done for Spain? Subjective.
Click to expand...
R9 was more impressive. He would have made Lewandowski look like a fool at 17.
Messi was chaotic, an artist, comparing him with mortals is not wise.
If Messi had the training and the urgency to play for Barcelona at 16-17 as a starter, I think he would have been better as game impact but not as goals. We should not forget his body was not really that ready and to score goals you need to pudh players around.
 
companyofcules

companyofcules

Well-known member
But anyway I would take R9 vs Yamal at 17. You can't grow talent.
Hope the boy keeps it serious because he is not a phenomen and he should learn from Fati's mistakes.
 
malvolio

malvolio

Senior Member
Van Basten, Maldini, Buffon, Best were also very good at 17. Casillas started and won a CL final after barely turning 19.
 
Andresito

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Nobody is saying Yamal is guaranteed to have a better career than any of players mentioned. But stature/status/achievement wise, nobody beats him at 17. People are already talking about him being one of the best players in the world.
Then at 18-19 it's a different story in terms of comparisons. Let's see what kind of influence Yamal will have had in CL and WC in summer 2026 when he turns 19.

Yeah he didn't have super amount of competition at Barca or Spain, but it's not like he's just a starter to fill out the XI. He's influential and is actually successful trophy wise. There's a difference there, competition or not, he's shown he can be a star player in a team that wants to win biggest trophies and he'd start for just about every team in the world.
 
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