Yamal is the biggest threat to England – at 17 he’s ten times better than Messi, twice as good as Ronaldo

The term ‘generational talent’ gets thrown around quite loosely these days, but Lamine Yamal absolutely fits that definition.

At 17 he’s already ten times better than Lionel Messi and twice as good as Cristiano Ronaldo was. At least, that’s what the stats suggest.

Having only turned 17 today, the day before the final, Yamal has been the talk of the town during Euro 2024. During a tournament where plenty of the superstars have underwhelmed, the Barcelona prodigy has been a breath of fresh air.

Those who kept up to date with La Liga last season will have already been familiar with Yamal’s talent, but this summer has supercharged his profile in the football world.

For Spain, he’s created the most chances at the tournament (16), provided the most assists (three) and completed the second most amount of dribbles (12).

However, those sorts of statistics don’t do Yamal the justice he deserves. The kid is an absolute joy to watch and he passes the eye-test with flying colours.

During an era of football where the game is becoming increasingly structured, Yamal provides an intoxicating sense of unpredictability that we can’t help but be drawn towards.

It’s a similar sort of thing that’s gravitated us towards the likes of Messi and Ronaldo over the last couple of decades.

However, one of the scariest things about Yamal is how much he’s outperforming the likes of Messi and Ronaldo when comparing their records at the same age.

MORE ON EURO 2024 FROM F365
👉 Five England v Spain predictions based on past meetings, including Southgate’s final game and Trippier reducer
👉 Okay, Gareth, we’ll trust you – you can name whatever team and any subs you like for the final
👉 Two reasons England won’t beat Spain in Euro 2024 final are revealed as ‘hidden problem’ exists

How Yamal at 17 years old compares to Messi

For many, Messi is the greatest of all time. The Argentine wizard has won everything on offer and he’s still going strong today at the ripe old age of 37.

Practically every footballer dubbed the ‘next Messi’ has wilted under the pressure, but Yamal might just be good enough to break that mould.

We’re certainly not saying he’ll go on to emulate Messi’s career, but when comparing their stats at 17, the Spanish wonderkid is lightyears ahead of his Argentine counterpart.

For club and county, Yamal has already bagged 10 goals, whereas Messi only scored one professional goal as a 17-year-old and he didn’t become a regular starter for Barcelona until he turned 19.

Does that technically make 17-year-old Yamal 10 times better than 17-year-old Messi? We’ll let you be the judges of that one.

In fairness to Leo, he only made nine appearances for Barcelona during his debut season, compared to Yamal who racked up a whopping 50 appearances for the club last season.

Development isn’t linear, but if he manages to develop at his current rate, we could be witnessing the start of something truly spectacular.

Even if Yamal only goes on to have half of the career Messi had, he’d still rank among the best players of all time with multiple Ballon d’Or awards and countless trophies to his name.

How Yamal at 17 compares to Ronaldo 

While he might be over the hill these days, there aren’t many players in the history of football who can hold a candle to Ronaldo and his career achievements.

At his peak, CR7 was one of the most inevitable footballers to have ever graced the game and boy was he fun to watch during his younger years.

From the hairstyle and boots to the fancy flicks and tricks, young Ronaldo was someone that pretty much every kid idolised at the time.

However, despite his rapid rise to stardom, Yamal’s achievements at 17 already surpass Ronaldo’s from the same age.

At 17 years old, Ronaldo had five goals to show for his career – that’s half the amount Yamal has already bagged for himself.

While Yamal is comparatively in front of Ronaldo at the age of 17, it’ll take some effort to match his scoring tally by the time he retires.

As of writing, Ronaldo has scored 895 career goals. For Yamal to match that record, he’d need to score 52 goals per season for the next 17 years. It’s a bit mental when you think about it.

Regardless of how many goals he manages to score or what accolades he manages to win along the way, it’s going to be plenty of fun watching Yamal develop over these next few years.

How can England stop him?

One of the biggest questions facing England and Gareth Southgate ahead of the final is how do they contain the threat of Yamal and Nico Williams.

Luke Shaw being available is an added bonus, but he’s not started a game since February and throwing him straight into a 1v1 battle with Yamal isn’t ideal.

Kieran Trippier has started in all six of England’s matches so far, but there is a sense of vulnerability with him on the left-hand side.

Switzerland’s Dan Ndoye burned him for pace a few times during the quarter-final, but he didn’t have the end product to back it up. Unfortunately for England, Yamal does.

His ferocious strike against France was his highlight of the tournament so far and we can’t help but feel like he’s got something up his sleeve for England.

Talking ahead of the final, Yamal has already piled the pressure on Trippier and Shaw as he said: “I always think that it’s the full-back who has pressure. If I go past him, I’m touching the goal.

“I receive the ball, if I have a one-on-one, I always go for the full-back because it’s a very psychological game and if I go for him, he is scared and then I can go for him more and I improvise.

“They have respect, the fullbacks don’t go into me much. They try to hold off.”

If England want to contain the threat of Yamal and Spain, the whole team has to play their part. This final can’t be decided upon the outcome of Yamal v Trippier because that’s surely only going to end in tears for the Three Lions.

Southgate’s side have been solid defensively all tournament, but they’ve seen nothing like this.

More: England | Lamine Yamal | Cristiano Ronaldo