Will Lamine Yamal become a Barcelona legend like Lionel Messi?

Yamal aged 17 has already established himself as the Catalan club’s key player.

Lamine Yamal has been making history ever since he made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15 years, 9 months and 16 days. Yamal, a renowned La Masia academy graduate, is not your typical teenage football player. He has the ability to become a Barcelona icon and is a generational talent.

In the Spanish village of Esplugues de Llobregat, not far from Camp Nou, Lamine Yamal set off on his adventure. His football skill was apparent from an early age, having been born in 2007. Lamine Yamal, then six years old, enrolled in Barcelona’s La Masia youth program in 2013.

His extraordinary abilities were developed and refined there. He made a lasting impression on every age group as he advanced through them at an incredible rate. Lamine Yamal attracted attention with his daring dribbling, knack for making a game-winning pass and adaptability throughout the attacking line.

He was not only exceptional, he was unique. The senior squad had heard rumours of his genius by the time he made it to the U19s. Xavi Hernandez, then manager of Barcelona and a graduate of La Masia himself, had great admiration for the young talent.

Lamine Yamal was soon handed his debut and the rest is history. The Spaniard has already announced himself at the biggest stage of football. At just 17 he is already Barcelona’s most important player. Last season the forward played a mammoth 50 games.

But is he going to be as good as former Barcelona legend Lionel Messi? Well, that is a tough question given Messi’s ascendance to greatness took time. The Argentine genius quickly went on to establish himself and became one of the greatest players in the sport.

Will Lamine Yamal become a legendary player like Messi was at Barcelona?

On November 16, 2003, Messi took on Porto in his first-ever professional career match at the age of 17. He was a member of the Barcelona B team during the 2003–04 season. For the 2004–05 season, he was elevated to the senior squad. On October 16, 2004, he came as a substitute against Espanyol to make his league debut.

On the other hand, Yamal made his Barcelona debut in April 2023 at the age of 15. He quickly rose to prominence the previous season, turning into a vital member of the Catalan giants.

When you see the age difference between both player’s debuts it makes one wonder if Lamal is going to overshadow Messi’s career at Barcelona. Lamine Yamal made 50 appearances last season, scoring seven goals and providing nine assists.

Messi made only nine appearances and had only an assist to his name when he was 17. There is a star contrast in both player’s statistics. Yamal has plenty of his career ahead of him and can even make a bigger impact than what Messi had at Barcelona.

What saw Messi become one of the best players was his consistency. He was scoring goals and providing assists week in and week out. If Yamal has to reach those numbers he will have to be consistent throughout his career.

He can achieve so many things throughout his career. Lamine already is one of the Ballon d’Or nominees at the age of 17. This is certainly a big achievement for a player of his age. He soon can win one if he continues to play like this, but winning eight ballon d’Ors like Barca legend Messi could prove to be the biggest task.

Had Barcelona won the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League then Yamal could have been one of the favourites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or given he also led Spain to Euro 2024 trophy. This season he is already scoring and assisting goals, creating further new records.

He is very young and at just 17 he has already amazed fans with his traits. We feel he can go on to achieve many things and maybe become a legendary player like Messi was at Barcelona.

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