Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes says no one can be the same as his ‘unique’ client, but Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal has the talent to be like him.
The 17-year-old has already achieved a huge amount in his young career, winning La Liga last year and the European Championship with Spain over the summer.
The teenager scored seven goals for Barca last season as he became a regular in the first team and has already netted six times this campaign, although has been hampered by an ankle injury.
Yamal is already a standout player at the highest level but he is being tipped to go all the way to the top of the sport and be in the conversation for the best player on the planet.
Mendes also represents Yamal and believes he is the player with the talent to reach heights that Ronaldo has soared to.
‘Cristiano Ronaldo is the best in history, he is unique,’ Mendes told Marca. ‘He was, he is and he will continue to be.
‘If there is someone now who can be like him, that would be Lamine Yamal, but in the future. He is the one with the most talent and the one with the most possibilities of doing things well.
‘He can win several Ballon d’Ors. He is going to renew with Barcelona. For sure. He wants to be at Barcelona for many years’
Yamal’s current deal with Barcelona runs until 2026 so there is no concern about his contract, with his agent certain a new agreement will be reached.
A more pressing concern is his current ankle injury, with the teenager expected to be out for around a month, but a specialist surgeon is not certain on the prognosis.
‘It’s not a typical sprain, it’s a much more specific injury, a slight tear of the membrane that joins the tibia to the fibula, which is known as syndesmosis,’ Dr Pedro Luis Ripoll told Cadena SER. ‘The prognosis is much more uncertain.
‘He has played 80 per cent of the games and last year he reached 91%. [Barcelona] will do well to let him heal completely and without any rush… A diastasis can occur, which is the separation of the tibia and fibula due to the lack of this membrane, leaving the ankle in a very unstable state.’