The Present
Lamine Yamal is football’s first wonderkid since Kylian Mbappé, who has performed relatively close to the calibre of generational talents like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The world hasn’t seen a young player get this much hype since the Frenchman did in 2017. For example, the last wonderkid before Kylian Mbappé was Neymar.
Obviously, we would like to make as little comparisons as possible, to not put too much pressure on talents like these, but in some cases they’re inevitable. Lamine Yamal is now an established player and seeing as he turned 18 years old in July, it’s time to see how a 17-year-old Lamine Yamal matches up against a 17-year-old Kylian Mbappé.
Kylian Mbappé at 17
Kylian Mbappé made his professional debut at age 16 on 2nd of December 2015, just 18 days before turning 17. Seeing as he had just broken into the first team, the French youngster didn’t get much playing time during his 18th year of life. He played a total of 44 games, of which only 27 were in professional football. In those 44 games, he played 2453 minutes, scored 19 goals and provided 6 assists. Only 1059 minutes, 7 goals and 5 assists in professional matches.
At just 17 years old, Kylian Mbappé had already caught everyone’s eye in Europe and was starting to slowly excel on a more consistent basis. He was still very raw as a player, relying on speed and fancy tricks, which a lot of the time meant he lost the ball too often. The Frenchman wasn’t the same player he is today, seeing as he was less efficient and didn’t have the intelligence he has nowadays.
Having said this, it doesn’t mean that his performances weren’t good enough. Quite the contrary, in fact it was enough for everyone to understand that he was a star in the making, and he was football’s next big thing. The 2016/17 season was his breakthrough season, which earned him a big money move to PSG, but seeing as he turned 18 on the 20th of December, his stellar performances just shortly after his birthday won’t be taken into account.
Kylian Mbappé won two titles as a 17-year-old, namely the French Youth Cup and the U-19 European Championship. Both titles aren’t considered professional titles, seeing as he achieved them in youth football.
Lamine Yamal at 17
Lamine Yamal turned 18 in July, so it’s possible that fans may be suffering from recency bias when considering whether he was better than Kylian Mbappé at the same age, given that his time as a 17-year-old has just ended. To try and compare two players from different times as objectively as possible, you must look at the facts.
Lamine Yamal was already an established starter for FC Barcelona and Spain at age 17, making this comparison a bit unfair. Every player explodes at an individual time and Lamine’s breakthrough season happened to be when he was 17. His first game as a 17-year-old was the 2024 EURO Final, in which he assisted Nico Williams for the opening goal and was crowned victorious alongside his teammates after the final whistle. He was awarded the Young Player of the Tournament and became the youngest player ever to win the competition. This meant that all eyes would be on him next season, and it’s safe to say he lived up to the hype.
During his time as a 17-year-old, Lamine Yamal played 64 games, scored 21 goals and provided 23 assists. He played a total of 5272 minutes, which is more than double the minutes Kylian Mbappé got at the same age. The Spanish winger won four titles, namely EURO 2024, LaLiga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, in which he scored in the Semi-final and Final.
He was extremely decisive for club and country, scoring twice in the Nations League Semi-final against France and assisting twice in the Copa del Rey Final against Real Madrid. These extraordinary performances earned him second place in the 2024/25 Ballon d’Or, making him the youngest runner-up ever.
As to his way of playing, Lamine Yamal showed a higher level of maturity on the pitch, regarding decision-making and efficiency, compared to Kylian Mbappé at 17. It might be due to the fact that he’s been playing professionally for a longer period of time than any other youngster we’ve seen in Europe, making him more experienced at a very young age and improving his tactical awareness.
The Conclusion
In conclusion, Lamine Yamal was clearly the better player between the two at 17 and performed better due to different circumstances. The comparison in itself is unfair, as previously stated, seeing as players develop at different rates. Lamine Yamal was lucky enough to experience his breakthrough season at the early age of 17.
On the other hand, Kylian Mbappé’s breakthrough season happened when he was 18 years old. Only time will tell who was better at the age of 18, but the footballing world will have to wait for another year to be able to start that debate.
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