Is he the new Messi? Spain’s prodigy player Lamine Yamal has already made history at Euro 2024, and is hoping to score a decisive goal in the match against England on Sunday.
The rise of Spain’s teenage football prodigy
Is he the new Messi? Spain's prodigy player Lamine Yamal has already made history at Euro 2024, and is hoping to score a decisive goal in the match against England on Sunday.
The photo is striking. A 20-year-old Messi, already being hailed as the greatest footballer of all time, gazes smilingly into the eyes of the young baby he is gently cradling. It is the summer of 2007.1
It is as if he already knows who that baby will become. Less than 17 years later, the infant from that picture scored an historic goal against France in the Euro semi-finals, becoming the youngest man to score in the tournament's entire history.
"There will never be another like Messi," said Lamine Yamal in response to the countless questions about the similarities between himself and the towering Argentine superstar. But he may never escape the comparison.
Some say Yamal may even surpassBe greater than. his legendary idol. After all, Messi never won a major international tournament as a teenager. With Spain playing against England on Sunday, a victory could score Yamal another entry in the sporting history books.
The son of a painter and decorator, and a waitress, Lamine Yamal was scouted at six years of age by FC Barcelona before signing for La Masia, Barcelona's youth academy.
"He seemed touched by a magic wand," said family friend and local footballer Inocente Diez. "You could tell he was special."2
And Diez was not the only person who felt that way. After a scout came to watch one of Yamal's matches, he was quickly whisked away from his local club CF La Torrenta to FC Barcelona for training.
Since then, he has set record after record. He was the youngest player to play for Barca in a century. He was the youngest ever player in La Liga. He was the youngest player to ever play for Spain, and now he is the youngest to ever score for them too.
But he has not let it go to his head. His close friends and family describe Yamal as quiet, humble, mature and hard-working, and he has even been pictured doing his homework in between the intensive team training at Euro 2024.3
Moreover, he has not forgotten his humble beginnings. His trademark celebration is a hand gesture which denotes "304", the postcode for Rocafonda, the deprived area in Spain where he grew up.4
There is a colourful mural of the teenager outside his local bakery that shows him grinning, surrounded by the flags of Morocco and Equatorial Guinea - where his parents are from - as well as Spain, where he was born.
Yamal, who will turn 17 on Saturday, does not want any birthday presents. "I only ask to win, win and win", he says. But perhaps he has already won.
FC Barcelona supposedly rejected a world transfer record-breaking £210 million fee for the young prodigy before Euro 2024, calling him irreplaceable.5 Nobody seems to doubt his sparkling future.
But some say we should exercise caution when it comes to very young players. From Freddy Adu and John Bostock to Hachim Mastour and Bojan Krkic, numerous former teenage prodigies have failed to live up, in their adult careers, to early hype.
Lionel Messi once claimed that he will only know the sum of his achievements after he has retired. A career cannot be measured before it has ended. And Lamine Yamal is only just getting started.
Is he the new Messi?
Yes: Lamine Yamal is built in Messi's image. The fact that he met Messi by coincidence as a baby and went on to become his peer shows that his destiny is to be one of the greatest footballers ever.
No: It is impossible to judge somebody's career when they are just 16. The remarkable thing about Messi is how long and consistent his career has been. We do not know if Yamal will maintain this standard, let alone improve.
Or... Yamal is not the new Messi and it makes no sense to compare them. He is his own player with a distinctive and unique style.
Surpass - Be greater than.
The rise of Spain’s teenage football prodigy

Glossary
Surpass - Be greater than.