Lamine Yamal
#19 · Forward · age 18
Returned from hamstring injury sustained late April 2026; wears No. 19, echoing Messi.
89
WC26 rating
- Recent form
- 90
- Career peak
- 94
- League level
- 90
- Competition pedigree
- 98
- International pedigree
- 73
- Longevity
- 73
Independent rating — league strength (Opta-anchored) × competition tier × position-normalized output. Not affiliated with EA or FIFA.
Career by season
Source: transfermarkt · fetched 2026-05-29
Yamal is the difference between a Spain side that wins on craft and one that wins on raw individual brilliance. He plays a right-footed-defender’s worst-case scenario: feinting outside, cutting inside, and shooting or threading a cutback to Oyarzabal with equal regularity. The hamstring scare matters — De la Fuente will almost certainly bring him back through 60-minute group-stage cameos rather than full ninety-minute shifts. If he hits the knockouts at full sharpness, Spain are the side everyone is trying to avoid.
Strengths
- one-on-one dribbling from the right touchline
- inverted left-foot finishing and cutbacks
- set-piece delivery
- preposterous composure for his age
Recent form
Returned from an April 2026 hamstring strain in time for the final pre-tournament friendlies; minutes managed but sharp.
He was bathed in a Barcelona shirt as a baby in a 2007 charity calendar shoot organised by Messi's foundation — a photograph that became viral folklore once he made his debut.