Thierry Henry named the wonderkid who was on the same level as Lamine Yamal but did not fulfil his potential.
17-year-old sensation Yamal started for Barcelona in their 1-0 Champions League round of 16 first leg win over Benfica on Wednesday night, where skipper Raphinha scored the only goal at the Estadio Da Luz.
On CBS Sports’ Golazo show, Micah Richards made the point about the difficulties of protecting Yamal – who is already a key player for Barcelona and Spain and has racked up more than 100 senior appearances.
Easily the most exciting youngster in world football, Yamal shone as Spain won Euro 2024 and deservedly picked up the Young Player of the Tournament award.
Already playing with a real maturity beyond his year, Yamal has been tipped to achieve great things and even earned comparisons to eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.
But after Richards posed the question, Henry interjected and mentioned the story of former teammate Bojan Krkic, who came through the ranks at Barcelona and scored 900 goals at youth level
The youngest goalscorer in Champions League knockout history aged 17 years and seven months, Bojan appeared destined for greatness to dubbed ‘the next Messi and was part of the Barca side which won the competition on two occasions.
He scored 41 goals in 163 appearances for the Blaugrana but never quite reached the dizzying heights many expected, later turning out for Roma, AC Milan, Ajax, Stoke City, Mainz, Alavez, Montreal Impact and Vissel Kobe.
“I’ve seen someone arriving on the scene like that, Bojan Krkic,” Henry said.
“I invite you to go and look at his documentary and what it can do to you when you’re young. I’ve lived that one with Bojan where he kind of lost his way.
“He didn’t like to be seen too much. That’s something that people sometimes do not understand. They keep on forgetting that he’s a young kid who went from not being known to dealing everybody.
“I just want to do a shout out to Bojan because for him to go out there and talk in the documentary… I think it’s a good watch and you understand what it is to be a star really early.”
In an exclusive interview with SPORTbible in 2021, Bojan called Henry a “big influence” and praised him, Samuel Eto’o and Lilian Thuram for the help and advice they provided.
Bojan’s advice to Yamal
Having been through a similar scenario to Yamal in making waves early on at Barcelona and being under such a spotlight, Bojan has already told the winger how to cope with the incredible pressures.
“Everybody has their own mentality,” he said.
“It’s not an ideal world. It’s not easy. If you really want to be a footballer or a sports person, you need to work. You need to be really disciplined and calm – even if you start doing good things. You’ve still got a long way to go.
“It’s something you have to do with your heart; with your passion. Try to balance out the good and bad moments and forget about what the people say about you.”