Lamine Yamal: The greatest teenage footballer the world has ever seen

Lamine Yamal has always looked up to Lionel Messi. The Barcelona legend was - and remains - his one and only idol. "I never had another," Yamal admitted to Tuttosport. "I once took a photo with him. I was unknown."

He wasn't just unknown, though; he was still only a baby, just a few weeks old when he and his mother partook in a 2007 photoshoot organised by SPORT for a charity calendar. But that image of a 20-year-old Messi bathing an infant Yamal has already assumed iconic status. The symbolism is almost too perfect: it's as if Messi is anointing his heir, baptising Barca’s next messiah.

Flattering as he finds the comparisons with the GOAT, the humble Yamal is unsurprisingly reluctant to fully embrace them. The 17-year-old says that "reaching Messi's level is impossible" but nonetheless hopes that "maybe one day I will be like him".

He already is, though. He plays in the same position for the same club with which Messi made his name immortal, and is presently wowing fans all across the world with similarly devastating dribbling skills and wondrous collection of crosses.

There's arguably only one significant difference: Yamal is even better than Messi was at the same age. In fact, the NXGN 2025 winner might just be the most talented teenager the sport has ever seen...