The best ever 19-year-old?

He's already the most exciting player in the world. But is he the best 19-year-old of all time?

He already feels like he's been around for years, and his body of work is quite remarkable. Playing for Barcelona since the age of 15 and Spain by 16, Yamal has already won three league titles, a European Championship and a World Cup. His first league title came from just one brief substitute appearance, but he's hardly been making up the numbers since then. He's the best player for both Spain and Barcelona.

But how does he compare with the best player of all time, in my opinion, Lionel Messi, and another all-time great in Cristiano Ronaldo? I remember the legendary goal Messi scored against Getafe. It was Maradona-esque. That goal came later in Messi's teenage years, though. The question here is how they compared with Yamal at exactly the same age.

By 20 October 2026, when he was 19 years and three months old, Yamal had made 163 competitive first-team club appearances. At the equivalent age, Messi had 43 and Cristiano Ronaldo 70. Yamal also had 32 competitive appearances for Spain, Messi six for Argentina, while Ronaldo was yet to play a competitive match for Portugal. He had played five friendlies at this point. Lamine Yamal had already won the World Cup and European Championship before Ronaldo had even played a competitive international.

Cristiano had managed 10 competitive goals for club and country. Some may argue that he played in a 4-4-2 system, where wide players wouldn't get the same attacking freedom as they would in a 4-3-3. That's a fair point. Messi had 13 goals: 12 for Barcelona and one for Argentina.

Yamal is on 70: 59 for Barcelona and 11 for Spain. Take Messi and Ronaldo together. Times three. And Yamal still has one more.

Yamal has played considerably more matches than either Messi or Ronaldo had at the same age, but he was good enough to get into Barcelona's team at 15 and was playing regularly for Barcelona and Spain by 16. If Messi or Ronaldo had been showing what Yamal is showing at that age, I believe they would have been in their teams sooner. Football hasn't moved on that much.

Will Yamal finish his career with more goals than those two players? I don't think so. And in terms of ability, I don't think he'll get close to Messi either. But the fact that Yamal started doing it at such an early age is what caught my eye. We're witnessing greatness, no doubt about it.

And Messi and Cristiano aren't the only players who deserve consideration. Pelé won the World Cup at just 17 and was instrumental in Brazil's success, scoring six goals in four games, including two in the final. What he achieved was remarkable, and there's a reason why, generations later, people still consider him among the greatest players of all time. Even those who don't consider him the greatest will usually have him in the conversation alongside Messi, Maradona and the two Ronaldos.

But I find it difficult to judge players I haven't watched regularly. We're talking about 1958, and Pelé was playing his domestic football in Brazil. It's difficult to determine the strength of those competitions compared with the football we watch today. His World Cup achievements are well documented, but examining his wider body of work at that age is much more difficult. If somebody from an older generation told me Pelé was better than Yamal at 19, I wouldn't argue with them. They've formed their own opinion, just as I have.

Ronaldo Nazário also deserves serious consideration, although he was a striker rather than a winger. Thirty league goals for PSV as a teenager is an exceptional return. What he did at that age, and in the years that followed, rightly puts him among the greatest players of all time. Some people even consider him better than Cristiano Ronaldo. Injuries took their toll on R9, and his longevity is probably one of the reasons he isn't mentioned more often in conversations about the greatest of all time.

But the important distinction for me is the level at which they were performing. Ronaldo was scoring those goals in the Dutch league. Yamal is producing his performances in La Liga, the Champions League, the European Championship and the World Cup. He's already demonstrating his ability against some of the best players and teams in football. That matters when comparing their achievements at the same age. Thirty goals for PSV is impressive, but I place greater value on what Yamal has been doing at the highest level.

If this comparison were being made a year later, I'd probably be choosing R9, although that would also depend on what Yamal does this season. Ronaldo moved to Barcelona and continued to be exceptional, proving himself at the very highest level. But the cut-off here is 19 years and three months. Given everything Yamal has already achieved, I find it difficult to put Ronaldo ahead of him at that particular age.

The most recent comparison would be Kylian Mbappé. Although he now plays mostly as a striker for Real Madrid and France, he spent some of his teenage years on the wing for PSG. He was already making an impact there, although it's a different league and, in my opinion, a weaker one. Mbappé was voted the seventh-best player in the world at 18 and fourth at 19, although that fourth-place finish came later in his nineteenth year than the age I'm using for this comparison. Yamal was voted the second-best player in the world at just 18.

Now, Mbappé is certainly much more of a killer in front of goal, particularly as a centre-forward. But I don't think he has the full package of Yamal.

Not then, and not even now.

Nobody in world football currently has the all-round skill of Yamal. His ability to beat players, his passing, his goals and just his all-round WOW moments. In the last week alone, he's been a talking point on CBS regarding a fake rabona against Galatasaray, with Thierry Henry asking him about it. Then he goes and puts one in the top corner from outside the area against Betis. Then he bursts through and scores a great goal against the reigning European champions, PSG, even though Barcelona lose 4-2.

Football is a game of opinions. You can use statistics and achievements to support an argument, but somebody else might look at the same evidence and come to a different conclusion. Some will say Pelé. Others will say Ronaldo Nazário. And they wouldn't necessarily be wrong.

But having looked at the players who deserve consideration, I do believe Yamal is the best 19-year-old football has seen. It doesn't mean he'll finish his career with more goals than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, or that he'll eventually become a better player than either of them. But what he's already achieved, at the level he's achieved it, is quite remarkable.

Not bad for a 19-year-old.