Barcelona president Joan Laporta has addressed comparisons being made between Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi, calling the fledgling teenager the “best in the world”.
Laporta’s feedback come following the Spanish champions’ 7-3 win over Seoul FC as a part of the membership’s pre-season tour of Asia, through which Yamal fired house two first-half objectives as Hansi Flick’s facet placed on a spectacle within the South Korean capital.
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New contract, new shirt quantity
Despite celebrating his 18th birthday simply final month, comparisons are already being made between the younger prodigy and Messi, the membership’s file goalscorer.
In May, Yamal signed a brand new long-term contract with the LaLiga facet, preserving him on the membership till 2031 with a reported €1bn euros (£840m) launch clause.
The new deal additionally noticed Yamal handed the long-lasting No.10 shirt for the approaching season: the quantity worn for greater than a decade by Messi, who departed the membership in 2021 after profitable ten LaLiga titles and 4 Champions League trophies.
Laporta hails teenager “best in the world”
This yr might see Yamal grow to be the youngest-ever Ballon d’Or winner after serving to Barcelona declare a home treble final time period, scoring 18 objectives and registering 21 assists throughout all competitions.
And whereas Laporta highlighted the abilities of the teenage star, he was fast to place any comparisons with the Argentina captain in context.
“Lamine is Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi was Lionel Messi,” Laporta informed CNN.
“Messi has been the best player in the world, and Lamine, I think in the current moment, is the best in the world. But, we will have to see,”
“Lamine has quite a lot of character, similar to Messi did in his early days. Of course, Messi received every little thing. For me, he’s most likely the best participant of all time.
“He’s the kind of player of which there are very few, because he’s a genius and performing at the highest level.”
“The world goes on and new geniuses emerge, and the new geniuses today are players like Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Raphinha, all very talented players in the world of football.”
