Lamine Yamal: Barcelona official makes huge Lionel Messi claim | OneFootball

A Barcelona official has tipped Lamine Yamal to surpass even Lionel Messi, as the club constantly searches for the next version of the teenage sensation.

Messi lays claim to being arguably the greatest footballer not only within the realms of Barcelona's history, but of all time. However, even the future great had played only a handful of first-team matches by the time he turned 18, unlike Yamal, who became the club's most important player at the age of 16.

Andrea Mancini, son of Italian legend Roberto, is employed in Barcelona's sporting department under director Deco and is tasked with finding the next Yamal, which is obviously no easy feat.

"I am looking for new Lamine Yamals," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"The club's challenge is to get at least four or five children from La Masia into the first-team every year. And the challenge is met every year. Look at Yamal, it's easy to say, but he's been here for three years now. He will become stronger than everyone, even Messi."

Lionel Messi's history-defining career has been in longevity / JOSEP LAGO/GettyImages

Even if his early impact has been greater than Messi at the same age, what Yamal has not yet had the chance to do is perform at his game-changing level over a long period of term.

Messi's success has been in consistency and longevity, enjoying a far longer peak than a typical player, even one at a world class level, would have. He exceeded 30 goals in 13 successive seasons for Barcelona, remarkably scoring as many as 73 times during 2011/12 alone.

Yamal is not yet a prolific goalscorer, but neither was Messi until after he turned 21.

Barcelona expect Yamal to be with them for a long period of time. A €250m bid from Paris Saint-Germain was rejected last summer, in a similar vein to Inter failing with such an offer to take Messi to Serie A in 2006. Deco has warned that offers for Yamal won't even be considered as a new contract for the teen phenom is in the works.