Lamine Yamal | Das Wunderkind

He's genuinely not even in best in the world in his position debates anymore right now

He's in best in the world debates. Fecking madness
 
I recall just a while back someone in this thread called him a sanchez/pedro level player IF he fulfills his potential. Had a laugh then and just had another laugh remembering that
 
I could've made that pass. No defence, no pressure. Good player, but this standard.
 
I could've made that pass. No defence, no pressure. Good player, but this standard.
Yup, I could dribble like messi, jump and head like ronaldo and goalkeep like Neuer too. Too bad I am not interested in a career in football
 
Absolutely, but at the same time he’s basically too good to not play.

He’s not a Mainoo, Guler, Tel etc. type of talent who has great fundamentals and could be a world beater — he’s at that Cesc, Rooney etc. level where he’s already in the “best in the world in his position level” debates.

Neither Rooney nor Fabregas were considered anywhere near being the best in their position when they were 17. And it's not even like Yamal is turning 18 anytime soon, he just turned 17 a few months ago!

This kid is insanely good but my worry will always be that he's being overworked and will burn out at a young age and not fulfill his talent. While he is arguably the best right winger in the world, Ferran Torres isn't exactly a poor player and can easily play in his place for resting.
 
Neither Rooney nor Fabregas were considered anywhere near being the best in their position when they were 17. And it's not even like Yamal is turning 18 anytime soon, he just turned 17 a few months ago!

This kid is insanely good but my worry will always be that he's being overworked and will burn out at a young age and not fulfill his talent. While he is arguably the best right winger in the world, Ferran Torres isn't exactly a poor player and can easily play in his place for resting.

If Rooney or Fabregas were breaking through now they would be.
 
If Rooney or Fabregas were breaking through now they would be.

What? No they wouldn't. Rooney scored 6 goals the season he became 17 year and Fabregas was still breaking through Arsenal at that age.

I can understand with Rooney the comment is more talking about the dearth of strikers today but even then he wouldn't be considered better, or even close to, Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski, Mbappe etc.
 
What? No they wouldn't. Rooney scored 6 goals the season he became 17 year and Fabregas was still breaking through Arsenal at that age.

I can understand with Rooney the comment is more talking about the dearth of strikers today but even then he wouldn't be considered better, or even close to, Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski, Mbappe etc.

Rooney in Euro 2004 was insane. I can’t remember how old exactly he was but he was 17/18. It’s similar to Yamal.
 
Rooney in Euro 2004 was insane. I can’t remember how old exactly he was but he was 17/18. It’s similar to Yamal.

He was 18 and a few months away from being 19. Yamal was 16 in the Euros until the day before the final :lol: its genuinely hilarious how young and good he is right now. There is no one I've seen who was making such an impact on international football at his age. I think the only thing comparable in history is Pele at the WC at 17.

That being said, I think the climate of football is much different today than before, is true that young footballers are generally playing much more football than their predecessors at the same age and therefore getting exposure. Maybe some past players were as good at 16/17 but were more protected at their clubs, I remember Ronaldinho saying Messi was embarrassing them in training when he was 16 as well but Barca still brought him into the team steadily rather than starting him in every game.
 
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Absolutely, but at the same time he’s basically too good to not play.

He’s not a Mainoo, Guler, Tel etc. type of talent who has great fundamentals and could be a world beater — he’s at that Cesc, Rooney etc. level where he’s already in the “best in the world in his position level” debates.
If you want to protect and nurture your asset, you manage those minutes the best you can. It’s actually cautionary, the players you’ve mentioned as they’re precisely the road not to follow given both were shadows of themselves by 30.
 
If you want to protect and nurture your asset, you manage those minutes the best you can. It’s actually cautionary, the players you’ve mentioned as they’re precisely the road not to follow given both were shadows of themselves by 30.
I’m all for protecting Yamal at his age — but that’s because he is still a literal child. Not really convinced by this shadows of themselves by 30 talk. If Rooney started at 20 and finished at 34 instead of 17 and 30 it’s just a much of a muchness. Rooney and Fabregas both played an awful amount of football at the highest level. They declined early, sure, but that’s because of the obvious answer of them peaking earlier. In the grand scheme, the total amount of football was on par with the vast bulk of the other quality players of their generation who came through a few years after them. (Outside of freak outliers like Ronaldo, Modric etc)
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Yamal’s was key to winning Spain a European title and is Barcelona’s best player. Putting him on the bench for Ferran Torres just isn’t really going to fly. The expectations have been set for both player and club (and nation).
 
I’m all for protecting Yamal at his age — but that’s because he is still a literal child. Not really convinced by this shadows of themselves by 30 talk. If Rooney started at 20 and finished at 34 instead of 17 and 30 it’s just a much of a muchness. Rooney and Fabregas both played an awful amount of football at the highest level. They declined early, sure, but that’s because of the obvious answer of them peaking earlier. In the grand scheme, the total amount of football was on par with the vast bulk of the other quality players of their generation who came through a few years after them. (Outside of freak outliers like Ronaldo, Modric etc)
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Yamal’s was key to winning Spain a European title and is Barcelona’s best player. Putting him on the bench for Ferran Torres just isn’t really going to fly. The expectations have been set for both player and club (and nation).
Sounds wonderful until he breaks down and then there’s no conundrum to solve.

Barca/Spain have form for ruining youngsters and it’s a needless gauntlet to run (finding out if he’s durable enough to handle the men’s game and full calendar). This’d be an even bigger tragedy than Pedri, which I didn’t think was possible this cycle.
 
Hard to deny his quality given that he's outperforming the current top BdO candidates Vini, Bellingham, Mbappe every week... Yamal is going to contend to become the youngest BdO winner ever isn't he? Ronaldo Nazario won it at 21.
 
We've had a lot of "generational talents" who have come and gone, or come and done stuff, but I can honestly say I've not seen anyone who makes me think they're the real deal as much as him.

It's not even a case of him being talented now and probably really good in the future, he is already really damn good.

Even if he were to not ever refine any of his abilities past the point where they are now, he would still remain one of the best attackers in the world.
 
The game just seems to come so easily for him. Always has time on the ball. Oh what should I do here? Maybe just stick it in the top corner? Alright, sounds good.
 
Sounds wonderful until he breaks down and then there’s no conundrum to solve.

Barca/Spain have form for ruining youngsters and it’s a needless gauntlet to run (finding out if he’s durable enough to handle the men’s game and full calendar). This’d be an even bigger tragedy than Pedri, which I didn’t think was possible this cycle.
See! Game just gone — they tried to rest him against Osasuna and they’ve suffered their first loss of the season.

He is so much better than the rest of their attackers. Harder than you’d think!
 
See! Game just gone — they tried to rest him against Osasuna and they’ve suffered their first loss of the season.

He is so much better than the rest of their attackers. Harder than you’d think!
He's very good but it's not like this was Barcelona's starting lineup minus Lamine.They played inexperienced youngsters and conceded 4 goals.
 
He's very good but it's not like this was Barcelona's starting lineup minus Lamine.They played inexperienced youngsters and conceded 4 goals.
Fair. They have so many random children these days I don’t know which ones are the starters and which are the squaddies
 
Barca and Spain really need to chill out with him...

He's 17 years and 3 months old and he's played 80 games for club and country.

I really really hope he doesn't fall the way of Pedri or Gavi.
 
Pretty sad how poor Sevilla are these days, Barca battering them in 2nd gear with 10k unsold seats. That seems to be their highest this season as well, weird.
 
I had a great seat at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona a few weeks ago, on the right corner of the pitch where Barcelona were attacking in the first half, when Young Boys were in town. It may not even have been a memorable performance by his standards, and of course the opposition was middling at best, but Lamal was fantastic. Slicing through butter with a hot knife fantastic.
 
Is he the best player in the world?

Nope, still has some obvious kinks in his game that need adding.

He's more of a wide playmaker at the moment rather than a genuine complete forward. He still runs into blind spaces and his dribbling style requires a lot of runners around him. He needs to be more decisive with his dribbling in pure 1 v 1 situations without his teammates providing runs to drag defenders out of position. Finally, his off the ball movement in the box needs to improve. His composure and finishing is very good for his age.

He's playing style wise like a young Iniesta when he started out on the center drifting left under Rikjaard (though Yamals starting position is much wider) which is still an obviously fantastic level, but he's not at the top of the world level yet.
 
Over what time period? Past 12 months?

Haaland, Mbappe, Bellingham, Vinicius, Rodri for a starter - there's loads more too but these are the obvious ones.
He has more footballing ability than all those guys. Vini is the only one where it's even an argument in that respect. Does that mean he's better than all of them right now? I probably wouldn't go that far. Yet.....
 
He has more footballing ability than all those guys. Vini is the only one where it's even an argument in that respect. Does that mean he's better than all of them right now? I probably wouldn't go that far. Yet.....

Totally agree, he will be the best player in the world soon though although I think he already is.