Former Bayern Munich midfielder, Mark van Bommel, has categorically stated that Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is better than Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi when the Argentina captain was at the age of 17.
Speaking to Voetbalzone, the 48-year-old Dutchman also admitted that Yamal, 17, will have to score at least 30 goals every season to catch up with the Argentina captain in terms of career goals.
Many football fans and pundits have compared Yamal to Messi in recent weeks.
Some believe Yamal is better than Messi when the former Paris Saint-Germain star was 17 years old, while others believes otherwise.
“When [Lionel] Messi joined the first team of Barcelona in the beginning, he did not play as many games in the compared to [Lamine] Yamal now,” Van Bommel said.
“So if you compare Messi and Yamal at that age [17], Yamal is better now.
“Messi has been at this level for twenty years and that’s exceptional.
“If Yamal wants to catch up with Messi in terms of career goals, he will have to score another 500 or so. That is almost 30 a season.”
The former AC Milan star added, “Yamal is not the best in the world, but he is well on his way.”