17-year-old Barcelona prodigy already eclipses other greats of the game at his age | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are renowned for the quality of players that they have and even develop. For La Blaugrana, it is a recurring habit of sorts to see potential greats of the game represent them at one point or another, from Lionel Messi to now even Lamine Yamal. However, it is not always through transfers that Barcelona ends up bringing such players to the club.

In fact, when it comes to youth academies and developing young talents, Barça are simply the best at it. No other team historically comes close to producing the quality of players that Barcelona has produced from their academy and youth teams. Even now, the Catalan club remains blessed with prodigious talents.

In fact, there is perhaps no greater talent in the world right now than the 17-year-old Barcelona wonder-kid who was mentioned earlier. Despite still being a minor and not an adult, Lamine Yamal has taken over the football world by storm and he has already established himself as one of the world’s very best players both at club level and internationally as well, and has even garnered praise from rival coaches and players alike.

Lamine Yamal boasts incredible numbers for his age

In fact, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, his numbers and feats already eclipse those of most of the biggest names in football history when they were his age. When it comes to those names, there is simply no disputing the fact that those players are well and truly some of the greatest footballers to ever grace the pitch.

Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring for Barcelona. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

From Diego Maradona to Lionel Messi, these legends are renowned all over the world for the legendary feats that they have. Still, by the age of 17, none of them except for a certain Brazilian icon manage to come close to the numbers that Lamine Yamal has managed to produce.

By the age of 17, Barcelona legend Lionel Messi had only featured in nine games and had scored one goal while providing no assists. Similarly, Real Madrid and Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo had only played 19 games by then, scoring a total of five goals and having provided four assists.

Maradona, on the other hand, did have some surreal numbers by that age. Having played 60 games, he had scored 21 goals and had 15 assists. Incredibly impressive, but these numbers are still eclipsed by the 22 goals and 33 assists that Yamal has for the Barcelona first team.

Only one great manages to avoid Yamal’s shadow

Pele, however, remains the only player whose career was perhaps even more impressive by the age of 17. Having won the 1958 FIFA World Cup, he also had 41 goals in his 38 games for Santos in his debut season for them. As for Yamal, he has 22 goals in his first 100 games for the Catalan giants.

Still, it must be kept in mind that different eras of the sport have different demands. While Pele was certainly way ahead of his time, Lamine Yamal plays in an era of football with a lot of advancements and certainly much better tactics and analysis available.

Moreover, with the kind of performance he delivered against Inter Milan recently, it is clear to see that Yamal has already established himself as a player who can single-handedly decide games. After all, it is no mere coincidence that he already has a European Championship, a Copa del Rey title, a La Liga title, and a Spanish Super Cup under his belt already.