Alik
Moderator
Let's hope.
19 - Lamine Yamal
- Thread starter Messi983
- Start date
Temptation
Well-known member
Depends. Does Yamal have a sister?
Yamal has great technique but doesn't posses Ronaldinho's godlike technique. However Yamal already managed to balance between showboat and efficiency.
I think he will reach prime Dinho's level. Not as good when it comes to technique but will be better in term of goal and assist.
Accomplishment wise only Pele is comparable to Yamal at 17 years old. And Yamal plays big part to his own, not as a nobody.To be fair, no matter who the best of the lot is….the other candidates (Messi, Pele, Maradona, R9 pre-injury) are literally GOATs
Yamal eating at their table is mind boggling.
Alik
Moderator
By the age of 17, Pelé was a World Cup winner, scoring 6 goals, including a hat-trick in the semi-finals and two goals in the final. He had already scored around 100 goals for Santos by that age too.
Pelé > Lamine > Maradona > Messi
If we are looking purely at trophies won, role in the team and stats at that age.
Pelé > Lamine > Maradona > Messi
If we are looking purely at trophies won, role in the team and stats at that age.
Nello
Member
Something special about Lamine aswell is how much better he makes his teammates.
Messi was in a different tier regarding individual ability and freak like dribbling skills when he was young. Don't think we will see Yamal score a goal like Messi's against Bilbao or Getafe.
But Lamine's decision making, passing skills and general intelligence on a football pitch is unmatched for his age in my opinion.
Messi was in a different tier regarding individual ability and freak like dribbling skills when he was young. Don't think we will see Yamal score a goal like Messi's against Bilbao or Getafe.
But Lamine's decision making, passing skills and general intelligence on a football pitch is unmatched for his age in my opinion.
Messi983
Senior Member
Yamal has played like 50 games at the age Messi made his first team debut. So I think it's fair to say he accomplished more up to this day.
Ofc that doesn't mean he has the same talent as Messi and even less that he'll have nearly as good career. Especially Messi's longevity at the top level will be almost impossible to match for any player. Even if you have the talent and abilities staying relatively injury free will become harder for players with increasing demands of modern day football (focused more on generating money rather than players's well being).
And I'm not only talking about physical effect on the players but also mental one. As @FCBarca mentioned no player had so much pressure on his shoulders at his age. When Messi made his breakthrough we had R10, Eto'o, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol,... and then later Ney and Suarez. So he developed in a better environment surrounded not only by elite players but also strong personalities. Almost every player in that Pep team was captain material. That leadership is something we've lacked for years now. And while he was the best player and decided a lot of games on his own Messi didn't need to carry the whole team as much until his late twenties/early thirties when his beloved amigos started to decline.
Compare that to Yamal who at 17 is playing alongside grandpa Robbie and bunch of other kids (though compared to him someone like Pedri already looks like a veteran). Our only elite player in his prime years right now is Raphinha. And potentially Olmo (though I don't rate him that high) and Araujo (if he won't leave) but they are both injury prone. But as much as I like Raphinha I think it's fair to say he's not on the same level as above mentioned players.
How long can he continue to do that before he'll break down? Hopefully won't need to find answer to that question and we'll build a strong team around Lamine. It's insane and unhealthy for any club and more so for a club of Barca's importance to be so dependent on teenagers like we've been over past 4-5 years. Yes, they are/were good and mentally strong enough but OTOH injuries affected most of them.
Hopefully Yamal and Pau won't go down the same road as Ansu (well, especially him), Pedri, Balde and Gavi. But that's the risk we were taking pushing these youngsters into the water and if we want to become a "normal" club again this needs to change. I'm not saying La Masia kids should not be given a chance but that should only happen when they are ready, both physically and mentally. They should be given as much time as they need to develop and when they get to the first team they should have someone to lean on not be the ones carrying most load.
It's also a dangerous game with expectations some kids (won't even talk about fans who think players will never make it here if they are not starters at 18, lol) will have regarding their future in first team seeing Yamal and Cubarsi. They should be more exception than the rule. It's probably too late for current generation of 16-17 yo kids at the club but hopefully in 4-5 years players of that age won't expect or even demand first team minutes just looking at their peer(s) being star(s) of the team.
So it's good we also have examples of Fermin last year and Casado this season to balance things out a bit and show you can also make a breakthrough in your early twenties as long as you are patient and hard working.
Ofc that doesn't mean he has the same talent as Messi and even less that he'll have nearly as good career. Especially Messi's longevity at the top level will be almost impossible to match for any player. Even if you have the talent and abilities staying relatively injury free will become harder for players with increasing demands of modern day football (focused more on generating money rather than players's well being).
And I'm not only talking about physical effect on the players but also mental one. As @FCBarca mentioned no player had so much pressure on his shoulders at his age. When Messi made his breakthrough we had R10, Eto'o, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol,... and then later Ney and Suarez. So he developed in a better environment surrounded not only by elite players but also strong personalities. Almost every player in that Pep team was captain material. That leadership is something we've lacked for years now. And while he was the best player and decided a lot of games on his own Messi didn't need to carry the whole team as much until his late twenties/early thirties when his beloved amigos started to decline.
Compare that to Yamal who at 17 is playing alongside grandpa Robbie and bunch of other kids (though compared to him someone like Pedri already looks like a veteran). Our only elite player in his prime years right now is Raphinha. And potentially Olmo (though I don't rate him that high) and Araujo (if he won't leave) but they are both injury prone. But as much as I like Raphinha I think it's fair to say he's not on the same level as above mentioned players.
How long can he continue to do that before he'll break down? Hopefully won't need to find answer to that question and we'll build a strong team around Lamine. It's insane and unhealthy for any club and more so for a club of Barca's importance to be so dependent on teenagers like we've been over past 4-5 years. Yes, they are/were good and mentally strong enough but OTOH injuries affected most of them.
Hopefully Yamal and Pau won't go down the same road as Ansu (well, especially him), Pedri, Balde and Gavi. But that's the risk we were taking pushing these youngsters into the water and if we want to become a "normal" club again this needs to change. I'm not saying La Masia kids should not be given a chance but that should only happen when they are ready, both physically and mentally. They should be given as much time as they need to develop and when they get to the first team they should have someone to lean on not be the ones carrying most load.
It's also a dangerous game with expectations some kids (won't even talk about fans who think players will never make it here if they are not starters at 18, lol) will have regarding their future in first team seeing Yamal and Cubarsi. They should be more exception than the rule. It's probably too late for current generation of 16-17 yo kids at the club but hopefully in 4-5 years players of that age won't expect or even demand first team minutes just looking at their peer(s) being star(s) of the team.
So it's good we also have examples of Fermin last year and Casado this season to balance things out a bit and show you can also make a breakthrough in your early twenties as long as you are patient and hard working.
Prime Ronaldinho would shine in any period.
malvolio
Senior Member
I don't get this Yamal is carrying us at 17 rhetoric. If anything front three is well balanced when it comes to output. And if I'm not mistaken Raphinha has the most MOTM performances this season + most goal contributions in both Liga and CL. As things stand Raphinha is easily our player of the season right now.
Yamal is the most talented player and star of the team. Also, an injury to him or Raphinha would probably end our season. But he doesn't really carry us.
Yamal is the most talented player and star of the team. Also, an injury to him or Raphinha would probably end our season. But he doesn't really carry us.
jamrock
Senior Member
Have you seen our record when he doesn't play/start or you just deliberately ignoring it to suit your argument?.
Messigician
Senior Member
To quote red cafe
Can just like be like Rooney init we all thought he would be just keep getting better as the white Pele but he peaked at 18 and not get much better but stayed world class level until an early decline due to kms on the metre.
Remember Rooney also had a world class Euro 2004 just like Yamal did and was unlucky not to win it
Can just like be like Rooney init we all thought he would be just keep getting better as the white Pele but he peaked at 18 and not get much better but stayed world class level until an early decline due to kms on the metre.
Remember Rooney also had a world class Euro 2004 just like Yamal did and was unlucky not to win it
Alik
Moderator
Can't really compare with our record when Raphinha doesn't play, because he is never injured.
Temptation
Well-known member
Playing such a large amount of games at 16/17 is very very risky.
You'd have to be a genetic freak to have proper longevity after putting so much pressure on your body before 18.
You'd have to be a genetic freak to have proper longevity after putting so much pressure on your body before 18.
jamrock
Senior Member
??.
We have seen our record without him, but with everything else fit, and it's awful.
So it doesn't take a logical leap to say he's the one that makes the biggest difference in the attack and entire team this season.
By your logic we have to take one of each player out for a a run of games and see how the team performances to make a judgement.
It reality it doesn't work like that, because that's not going to happen.
Without him starting the team has a grand total of 0 wins, that's massive, he makes the game a lot easier for raphinha, one of the keys to raphinha stepping up a level is playing off yamal
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