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Lamine Yamal Leads Lionel Messi in Surprising 2025 Category

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Manuel Meza Cienfuegos | Last updated Nov 27, 2025 3:27 PM ET

Lamine Yamal is poised to be the next hero of FC Barcelona and the natural successor to Lionel Messi at the Blaugrana club.

Yamal, 18, was in the conversation to win the most recent Ballon d'Or but could not overcome the undeniable impact of Ousmane Dembele with Paris Saint-Germain, the champion of Europe.

Messi, 38, for his part, is experiencing a different present in Major League Soccer, but even though he no longer competes at the elite level of soccer, he continues to break impressive individual performance records.

This season alone, the Argentine star has recorded 43 goals and 22 assists in all competitions with Inter Miami, including MLS, Leagues Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, and Concacaf Champions Cup.

Yamal is not far behind. The Barcelona winger has recorded six goals and seven assists in 13 games with his club this campaign.

Curiously, the 18-year-old player has surpassed Messi in a peculiar category during the calendar year.

This combination of file pictures created on November 14, 2025, shows Spain's forward #19 Lamine Yamal (L) walking onto the pitch before the UEFA Nations League semi-final football match between Spain and France in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on June 5, 2025, and Argentina's forward #10 Lionel Messi looking on during the 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers football match between Argentina and Colombia at the Mas Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on June 10, 2025.Photo by LUIS ROBAYO,FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

Lamine Yamal Tops Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe in Jersey Sales for 2025

According to Score90, Yamal has surpassed the Argentine in jersey sales so far in 2025. Barcelona's No. 10 has sold an estimated 1.3 million jerseys, while the Inter Miami star has sold around 1.2 million.

Top 5 - Players with the most shirts sold in 2025 ✅ pic.twitter.com/0geieTmoEj
— Score 90 (@Score90_) November 27, 2025

In the same chart, the cited outlet places Robert Lewandowski in third place with 1.1 million jerseys sold, while in fourth and fifth place are two Real Madrid players.

The Polish striker is followed by none other than Kylian Mbappe, with an estimated 1 million jerseys sold in the current year, while Vinicius Jr. is in sixth place with about 992,000 jerseys sold.

Rank	Player	Club	Estimated Jerseys Sold (2025)
1	Lamine Yamal	FC Barcelona	1,300,000
2	Lionel Messi	Inter Miami	1,200,000
3	Robert Lewandowski	FC Barcelona	1,100,000
4	Kylian Mbappé	Real Madrid	1,000,000
5	Vinicius Jr.	Real Madrid	992,000