Is Lamine Yamal already the best footballer in Europe? And if not, who is?

“Lamine is the kind of talent that comes along every 50 years,” said Simone Inzaghi after watching the 17-year-old Yamal shine against his Inter team during a breathless 3-3 Champions League semi-final first leg draw in Barcelona.

“One thing that amazes me in football is you always think that there is nobody better than Ronaldo and Messi, (Ruud) Gullit, (Diego) Maradona, a lot of people, and then Lamine Yamal arrives,” said Thierry Henry, the former Arsenal and Barcelona forward working for U.S. broadcaster CBS.

In the afterglow of a wonderful performance, in which he scored one beautiful goal, glided across the pitch, turned defenders inside out and showed off his range of tricks, there was no shortage of praise for Yamal.

The draw with Inter was his 100th appearance and brought his 22nd goal (along with 33 assists). At the same age, Cristiano Ronaldo had made 19 appearances (featuring five goals and four assists) and Lionel Messi had made nine, scoring once.

All of which makes it easy to conclude that he is already the best player in Europe. Or as the former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand put it: “As a pure football talent, I’m going as far as to say I think Lamine Yamal is on another level to any player playing the game in the top five leagues in world football.”

Excitement has long surrounded Yamal, from his moment of perfection at the Euro 2024, to the comparisons with Messi he is keen to avoid.

But is he already the best footballer in Europe? And if he isn’t, who is?

We asked our writers.

‘It is when, not if, he wins the Ballon d’Or’

If I could watch anyone play right now, it would be Lamine Yamal. Every time Yamal got the ball against Inter, you expected something to happen — and that something could be anything because of his incredible talent and the fact that he plays with so much freedom. His goal was breathtaking — a sinuous run and then a shot that was not just beautifully placed but executed in a way (taken early, minimal backlift) that left Yann Sommer, the Inter goalkeeper, rooted.

I actually enjoyed Yamal’s run a few minutes later even more. Poor Federico Dimcarco, who went sliding on by (totally off the pitch) as Yamal, the master of the chop, expertly dragged the ball back inside the wing-back. But for Sommer’s fingertips, we would be talking about another exceptional goal.

To say that Yamal is the best in the world right now, at the age of 17, feels like a big claim. There’s an argument that he needs to score more prolifically – he’s averaging close to one every three this season in all competitions (six goals in 30 appearances in La Liga), and for that reason, I’d put him behind someone like Mohamed Salah, whose numbers are astonishing. But Yamal is a genius and it’s a matter of when, not if, he wins the Ballon d’Or.

Stuart James

‘I’ve never seen a better 17-year-old footballer… but…’

He’s phenomenal and I love watching him. I would go so far as to say — with caveats to follow — that I’ve never seen a better 17-year-old footballer.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were incredibly talented, but they were not influencing games at the highest level at 17. What Yamal is doing is almost unheard of, but a word of caution: what Ansu Fati was doing at 17 was also extraordinary. Progression is rarely linear.

The Messi/Ronaldo period has created what is an unrealistic perception of what greatness is. In the 1990s and 2000s, “best in the world” was always a fairly fluid debate; back then, it was arguably Rivaldo or (original) Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane or Paolo Maldini or Luis Figo or Ronaldinho or Kaka or, indeed, Thierry Henry at various points.

Messi and Ronaldo shifted expectations, but Yamal is doing things beyond them at 17 (Lluis Gene/AFP via Getty Images)

I expect the post-Messi era will be similar, with “best in the world” status more transient. This season has brought arguments, at various points, for Mohamed Salah, Raphinha, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior — not forgetting Rodri, the deserving winner of last year’s Ballon d’Or. It’s wonderful to think a 17-year-old might be part of that conversation for years to come if he continues to develop.

Oliver Kay

‘I’d still put Salah ahead of him’

He’s the player I most enjoy watching at the moment and to turn a Champions League semi-final in the way that he did, against players of that calibre, clearly describes ability that should terrify everyone.

But the best? I would still put Mohamed Salah ahead of him, just on numbers and the consistency of his output. And longevity. Salah is still dominating opponents at 32, having been studied and strategised against for years, which is a hard value to quantify but clearly worth something.

It’s extremely close, though, and if you ask me again in a year, I will probably have changed my mind.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

‘Yamal is uniting generations’

My 10-year-old nephew Flynn is in his football mad era. Last year, he asked me who Steven Gerrard was, which made me feel extremely old. He never needed to ask me who Lamine Yamal was, though. If anything, he’s the one telling me all about him. This 17-year-old kid is uniting generations with his talent.

On Saturday, my nephew, who spent the afternoon watching his beloved Tranmere Rovers secure League Two status after a dismal season, asked if we could watch the Copa del Rey final. Who was the player he most wanted to watch? You guessed it. The magic.

When we grow up, the vividness of imagination that we enjoy during childhood fades, but when watching a player like Yamal, we are all back in time and feel capable of anything. He’s the best right now and will be high up on that list for a long time to come.

Caoimhe O’Neill

‘Mbappe is still the man’

At the top of his game, there’s no better footballer in Europe than Kylian Mbappe.

Not since Cristiano Ronaldo’s early days in Madrid have we seen a player more capable of dominating defences with an equally potent blend of skill and physicality. Whether it’s done by a shifty stepover or brute force and world-class pace, he has more tools to find a yard of space in a crowded box than anyone. Twenty-two goals in 29 league appearances in his debut La Liga season is an excellent return, but such is his quality that we expect much more in the future.

Mbappe has done it on the biggest stages (David Ramos/Getty Images)

When he inspired France to World Cup glory as a teenager, it appeared he was the immediate successor to Messi at the top. At 26, he’s yet to win a Ballon D’Or. Still, while the crown is not undisputed, Mbappe is the man in European football in my eyes.

Elias Burke

‘Clearly Barcelona’s most important player’

Yamal’s tremendous solo goal in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg between Barcelona and Inter showcased the teenager’s tremendous dribbling ability and outstanding shooting prowess.

Barca’s youngest player is already their on-pitch leader — his goal against Inter was the game’s key moment, coming with his team reeling at 2-0 down.

Over the 90 minutes, he had the most shots (6), most crosses (10), and most dribbles (6) of any player on the pitch. Only midfield colleagues Pedri and Frenkie De Jong had more interventions than his 102.

A superb fingertip save from Sommer denied him a second wonder-goal. He set up chances for team-mates Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo, his dummy distracted the defence for Raphinha’s 3-3 goal, and he hit the crossbar with a late cross-shot.

You keep having to remind yourself that he does not turn 18 for another few months. But he is already clearly Barcelona’s most important player, nothing seems to faze him at all, and the really scary part is that he can still get a lot better.

Dermot Corrigan

‘Let’s not forget Rodri’

Please, let’s not allow injury to make us forget Rodri’s existence. The Manchester City midfielder was Spain’s key player in their European Championship win last summer and is the reigning Ballon d’Or winner.

If we’re talking about right now with the blinkered definition of a player who has literally kicked a ball in the last 48 hours, then it’s Yamal, sure. If we extend it to a player who has graced the pitch in the past week, it’s Salah.

Rodri has been absent from the pitch and maybe our minds? (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

But if we take a step back and ask who the best player currently operating is, the understated Rodri is that man. He may not play in the most heralded of positions, slaloming through and curving shots off the post, but his job is to play the position of two men. He does that at an elite level.

Only this week, he returned to Manchester City training and could return before the end of the season. Rodri, I remember you, and look forward to seeing you soon.

Jacob Whitehead

‘Is he better than Vinicius Jr at full tilt?’

In the maelstrom around Real Madrid’s Ballon d’Or no-show and banners mocking him this season, it seems we might all have forgotten just how good Vinicius Jr really is.

When he is on top form, nobody comes close — in a very literal sense. Just look at the host of right-backs the winger has left in his wake while racking up 105 goals for Madrid.

That puts him ahead of Ronaldo Nazario as the top-scoring Brazilian in Madrid’s history and is even more impressive given how much he struggled to find the target at the start of his time in the Spanish capital.

Vinicius Jr was unplayable in the first half of this campaign, best summed up by his devastating hat-trick in a 5-2 Champions League comeback win against Borussia Dortmund.

It seemed the 24-year-old was on a mission to claim the Ballon d’Or, so perhaps it is no surprise he has failed to hit those heights since missing out on football’s most prestigious individual award to Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri in October (although he did win FIFA’s The Best award in December). The fallout did him and Madrid no favours.

Having another galactico alongside him in Mbappe has also taken some of the shine off his role for his club. Even so, there are few other players who can terrify an opposition defence in the way he does. When Vinicius Jr is at full tilt, you know something special is about to happen.

Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

(Top image: Getty Images)

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