YAMAL LAMINE – Don’t mention Messi, but it’s hard not to.

The worst thing you can do to a wonder boy is call him one. Dub him “the new Messi” and he’s doomed.

Burdened with an impossible millstone of hype, it will eventually weigh him down, if clubs don’t burn him out first.

Barcelona have a history doing this to their prodigies and are paying a high price.

Mention Ansu Fati, Gavi and Pedri and you are talking about a trio of burnt-out cases.

Pedri is back in the Spain team but missed chunks of the last two seasons with a hamstring injury.

Gavi has a serious knee problem while Fati is at Brighton trying to rebuild after injuries ravaged his teenage years.

The whole of football is hoping they won’t do it to Lamine Yamal, who bears the closest resemblance to Messi: a left foot that can play the violin and an ability to ghost inside.

In truth, he can drift all over the field with the ball seemingly tied to his left bow.

He would already be the talk of the Euros if it wasn’t for some stiff competition.

Sometimes it’s their indiscretions that make you think the great young prospects can actually make it.

As George Best said of Gazza: “He’s a rascal, hates the press, and likes a drink. Sounds like he has a chance to me.”

Gazza took his chance, became great but then self-destructed.

The worst thing Yamal has done is throw eggs at a stall of a far-right political party and incur a fine of €500.

The son of an Equatorial Guinea mother and Moroccan father, he is of a colour that makes the far-right uncomfortable.

Like Gazza, he has something about him – he got his retaliation in first.

Ex Barca boss Xavi says of him: “He’s special, different, and he can mark an era at the club.”

But Xavi also warned: “It’s never good to compare anyone to Messi, because everyone who gets compared to Messi ends up losing,”

JAMAL MUSIALA – The star that England let slip.

Already through the group stage and billed as a potential star of the tournament is a player whose name could be from anywhere, but whose accent can only be from London.

Jamal Musiala is now very much German as he drives Die Mannschaft through a tournament they didn’t want to host a few months ago.

Dumped out of the last two World Cups at the group stage and hit for six by Spain in the Nations League just over a year ago, many German fans felt the tournament was coming at the wrong time.

But a bright young manager, Julian Nagelsmann, and few bright spark players have changed all that – and none more so than Musiala.

It was a special moment for the 21-year-old when he scored in his home town of Stuttgart to ensure safe passage against Hungary.

The fulcrum of the attack and the first player to score two goals in the tournament, he is being spoken of in the same hushed tones as Yamal Lamine and Jude Bellingham.

Skipper Ilkay Gundogan said: “The way he’s going right now, he can be one of the best.”

We saw glimpses of him when Bayern beat Arsenal in the Champions League and English fans learned then that despite his birthplace he had slipped through the net.

It’s always painful to watch a star player, who once played for your team, dazzle for a rival.

Double the pain when the rivals are countries.

The son of a German-Polish mother and a Nigerian-British father, he went to school in London and played for England from the Under 15s through to the Under 21s.

And so Musiala broke a lot of English hearts when he chose Germany.

“I have a heart for Germany and one for England. Both will keep beating. I’ve thought about this decision for a long time,” he has said.

For England fans, it’s scant consolation.

ARDA GULER – Young Turk steals show from ‘Kvaradona’

The least known of the new breed, the Turkish midfielder wasted no time in announcing himself in Germany.

It was supposed to be the night for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has already been called ‘Kvaradona’ for his exploits at Napoli.

But the young Turk with the deceptively innocent features and slight build, has dynamite in his boots and stole the Georgian’s thunder.

For those who don’t know him, his club is Real Madrid, and if we haven’t seen much of him yet, it’s only a matter of time.

At the end of last season, Carlo Ancelotti noted: “Arda Guler has a special talent that can naturally be used closer to goal rather than further away.”

Well, 30m was a fair distance when he unleashed one of the goals of the tournament in the 3-1 win over Georgia.

He became the first teenager to score since Cristiano Ronaldo 20 years ago.

There is a touch of Mesut Ozil about him which is not surprising as he took over the No 10 shirt at Fenerbahce from the ex-Arsenal man before joining Real.

N’GOLO KANTE – the old guy who survived the cull

Amid all the talk of fresh blood energising the tournament, it was good to see that one or two old codgers have survived the cull.

Calling the shots in midfield for France in their 1-0 win over Austria was a forgotten yet familiar face: N’Golo Kante.

We thought we’d seen the last of him. He missed the Qatar World Cup because of a hamstring injury and soon after left Chelsea for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

It looked like he’d said au revoir to the big time, opting for the generous pension top-ups of the Gulf as he wound down his career out of the spotlight.

And as the Paris-born son of Malian parents – his father was a rubbish collector – no one begrudged him cashing in while he still could.

The story is that as a boy, he used to follow his dad’s truck and pick up the odd pieces it missed.

Old habits die hard as he was at it again against Austria, clearing up in midfield with more interceptions than anyone else on the field.

He also made the most tackles and created the most chances.

At 33 and supposedly finished, it was an amazing performance.

But it was even more amazing that he got in the squad: France’s midfield being the most powerful engine room in world football.

Other names coach Didier Deschamps has to choose from are Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrian Rabiot and next-big-thing contender, Emile Zaire-Warren.

It says an awful lot of Deschamps to even select him, and of Kante to have maintained his standard in the Saudi Pro League.

But there he was again, once unsung and still unassuming, a pocket dynamo dictating play.

He owed his place to an injury to Tchouameni but after that performance, Deschamps may well decide to stick with the 1.7m veteran for now.

After all, he’s not likely to run out of puff, having run to training at his first clubs.

At Chelsea, he drove a second-hand Mini Cooper which he said helped him find parking places on crowded London streets.

For the little man that rose from the third tier of French football to win a Ballon d’Or nomination, it’s heartwarming to see that he can still find a place at the top table.

Don’t forget the Copa America encore for Messi

Once they thought it was a women’s game, now the United States can’t get enough of it – or at least enough of Lionel Messi.

And Messi, himself, seemingly destined not to win a major trophy at international level, suddenly won two and now wants more.

Near-misses in both World Cup and Copa America seemed to haunt him – after one he temporarily retired.

But when he finally lifted the Copa, beating Brazil in the final, it renewed his determination for one more crack at the World Cup.

It was storybook stuff all the way in Qatar and then came the Hollywood-style move to Miami where he wowed the unconverted.

In a month-long warm-up for the 2026 World Cup, the Copa will be staged across America and Messi will be playing.

Not every game, but he’s likely to still play a vital role as inspiration to his team and star attraction to fans that he’s helping win over.

Even though the little maestro admits, at 36, there’s “little time left” there’s probably enough for him to play a significant part in achieving both.

On the field, it looks pretty tasty with Brazil, whose attack will be led by Vinicius Junior in the absence of Neymar and Richarlison.

Having his first senior tournament will be their latest wonder boy, Endrick, 17, who has just joined Real Madrid.

On a quiet day in Europe – or even on the same day given the time zones – it will be interesting to compare him with those mentioned above.

As for Messi, there is no comparison. Argentina kick it all off against Canada today.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.