"My goal isn't to be compared to them; it's to be mentioned alongside them." Lamine Yamal said it himself, and at 17, he actually has the CV to back it up.
The Barcelona forward is set to make his World Cup debut this summer with Spain — assuming a hamstring injury picked up on April 22 doesn't derail his preparation. Luis de la Fuente is managing his recovery carefully, but the expectation is that Yamal will be fit when Spain open Group H against Cape Verde on June 15.
What he's already done at 17
The résumé is worth spelling out, because it gets lost in all the Messi comparison noise. Yamal became Barcelona's youngest-ever senior debutant at 15 years and nine months. This season he posted 16 goals and 11 assists in La Liga, helping Barça to a second straight title. He won Young Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024. In April, he took home the inaugural Young Sportsperson of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards — his second Laureus honour in back-to-back years.
None of that happened in a weak era or a soft environment. La Liga remains one of the most competitive leagues in Europe, and Spain won Euro 2024 convincingly.
The World Cup is a different creature, though. It reaches fans who don't watch club football, casual observers who'll be forming their first impressions of Yamal over the course of a summer. He understands exactly what that means. "Even if you're not into football, your country is playing and suddenly everyone is out in the streets, watching together," he told FIFA. "It gives me goosebumps to think I'll be part of it."
Spain's title odds and Yamal's fitness
Ranked second in the world, Spain are among the favourites to lift the trophy. That status gets a lot shakier if Yamal isn't at full tilt. A hamstring injury managed cautiously through late April and May is one thing — arriving underdone for a tournament opener against Cape Verde is another. Anyone pricing Spain's outright chances should be watching his pre-tournament minutes closely.
The group — Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay — is manageable enough that Spain can afford to ease him in. But Yamal at 80 percent is a different player than the one who terrorised defences all season at Barça.
He's not thinking in percentages, though. "I want to find my own way, enjoy the game and give people something to smile about," he said. "And when I'm retired, I hope people still enjoy going back and watching me play."
He's 17. He's talking about his legacy. The audacity is either delusional or exactly right — and nothing he's done so far suggests it's delusional.
