Dutch football coach Mark van Bommel has shared his opinion about the rising star, Lamine Yamal. Speaking in an interview with Voetbalzone, the 48-year-old said that the young Barcelona player is currently doing better than Lionel Messi did when he was the same age.

He also pointed out that for Yamal to truly reach Messi’s level in terms of career achievements, especially goal scoring, he’ll need to score at least 30 goals each season from now on.

Lately, many football fans and experts have been comparing Yamal to Messi. Some think Yamal is even better than Messi was when he was 17, while others don’t agree.

Van Bommel explained that when Messi first joined Barcelona’s main team, he didn’t play as often as Yamal is playing now. This, he says, shows Yamal is ahead of Messi in terms of early playing time and performance.

He added that although Messi has stayed at the top of football for two decades — something very rare — Yamal still has a long way to go to reach that level. To catch up in goals, the young player would need to score around 500 more goals, which means almost 30 goals every season.

Van Bommel also made it clear that Yamal is not yet the best player in the world, but he is on a good path and improving fast.