In WhoScored's player ratings for the European Championship Yamal (7.61 rating on average) sits at #3 for best rated player of the tournament, with Musiala (7.51 rating on average) at #7.
I just don't think the 0.1 difference in averages or the difference between #3 and #7 warrant "a chuckle" for comparing these placers or for mentioning them together when talking about the best young players in the world.
Wirtz ended Bayern's title dominance with Leverkusen, won the cup, and became German player of the year ahead of Musiala.
Bellingham was player of the season for the team that won the Champions League.
Musiala had his own Agueroooo moment the season before last.
Yamal is insane of course. But it's not like only because he's burst onto the scene in such stunning fashion, none of those others exist anymore. Bellingham, Wirtz, and Musiala all have years of being excellent under their belt.
Coming back to this, these scores you refer to are clearly a matter of perception and are subjective. Anyone believing there was a 0.1 between Yamal and the others is not seeing the same game as those firmly in the former’s camp.
Musiala in particular seems to wow people because his skilset and style of play is thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable to watch; his aesthetic has the hallmarks of a player who, if his development continues, will surely be a player spoken of in one of the best players in the world superlatives. He had the game against a rubbish Scotland side and those who are taken by his aesthetic were really cooing over him. He’s going to have a staunch following because he plays the game in a fun and engrossing fashion, but to me, he is some years off being the finished article. His decision making and thought processes do not optimise his game and with more cunning and guile, he would be a way more effective player, imo. But I expect all of that to be incorporated as he matures.
Bellingham is a fantastic player, but his game management is poor. He doesn’t know how to pace himself yet and uses energy and bluster over considered actions at just the right moments far too often under duress. This is commonly known as hero ball or me-me centric. Like Musiala, I suspect that he will mature and become a lot better at managing his game to optimise it.
Wirtz is a lot more considered than the other two and has less developing to do in terms of optimising his own skilset, he also has more to do on the international stage and in the grandest stages (CL).
By contrast, Yamal plays like a 27-year old veteran who reads the game and opposition like he’s done ‘this’ a hundred times before. He’s never rushed or flustered and his game management is extraordinary. He comes ‘alive’ in the most deadly and unassuming fashion and it should not take anyone who has watched the true greats long to see there is something very, very special about him. He exudes that calm and ability to make the game flow to his beat that young Mbappe had as his most stand out trait, but, unlike Mbappe, it is not a sudden burst of godly athleticism that unsettles opponents, it’s the ability to the right things at the right time with no fuss whatsoever that is extremely problematic. Unlike Musiala or Bellingham, there is no wasted energy or action and absolutely no raa-raa to beating players or advancing up the pitch - Yamal is a baby, even amongst these so-called peers yet his economy of movement is, I would say, beyond world class already.
He’s never rushed. He gets compared to Messi a lot, and before ability, I would say that economy of movement and minimal fuss there is in his game is the most similar to Messi and perhaps the likeness people see, but can’t quite put their finger on. What this also means is that you can’t take your eye of him for a even a moment, which is mentally exhausting for opponents - he’s going to hurt you at some point, as yet undetermined, and you better be ready… this is the lull and deception before he comes alive and executes the decisive action that wins the game with minimal effort or fuss. Unlike all of the others, the edge this gives him is that there is no way to prepare for that. You are
not supposed to see that in a 16 or 17-year old and you can count on one hand the players who exhibited that at the levels of football Yamal is doing. The Euros themselves being indicative - a stage where all of the others tightened up and played in agitated fashion, whilst this kid looked like the finished article expected to carry his team to glory, barely breaking a sweat because his reading of the game, and what to do within said game is off the charts.
The others may or may not reach their potential; for Yamal, the only two things that feel like they could curtail him is being ruined by overplaying, or a mental disconnect that causes his game to plummet, but in terms of both ability and reading of the game and how to affect it, he’s not on the same trajectory as the others and never was, despite them all being prodigies and potentially world class players in their own right - he’s currently to be rolled out alongside a teenage Neymar, I’d say, that kind of categorisation. Not the teenage Pele, Maradona or Ronaldo tier, but certainly out of this world freakish in terms of what the game has ever seen 16 and 17 year olds do, and even in saying that, on current trajectory he is above Ronaldo who was “only” doing it at Cruzerio and PSV at these equivalent ages.
The problem I see here is people trying to compare Yamal with others as if it’s like for like. He is 17(!), performing incredulous feats in the adult game since 16. This is far removed from all of the so-called peers. They are absolutely not one and the same. He plays with more understanding of the game and composure than any of them, by a distance. Factoring in technical superiority etc. is not even necessary -
knowing exactly what to do with available skilset, he’s in a league of his own for that in comparison to any of the others.
What tempers excitement about Yamal is the expectation of club and country ruining him and the world not getting to see the organic conclusion to his career - by the ages the others are, Yamal could well be “Pedri’d” and half the player he currently is.
