Lamine Yamal's adidas poster boy deal and link to Lionel Messi is no coincidence - Barcelona's gifted wonderkid is a megastar in the making and just what financially crippled Catalans need

Yamal's deal was announced in a very modern way. A brief video showed Yamal, sitting on his childhood bed, clad in all-adidas gear, smiling at the camera. The alarm clock next to him beeps, and shows the time "3:04" - a reference to the area code he grew up in. Yamal laces up Messi's boots, and is then shown running onto a football pitch. He throws up his signature celebration, before breaking out a series of tricks and flicks.

It's comparable to the ad Jude Bellingham, another young star, recently featured in for the famous brand. This was a well-thought-out thing, something meant not only to curate an image but also highlight a burgeoning talent.

The company explained their choice, too.

"Adidas is proud to confirm Lamine Yamal joining the adidas family as of today, wearing the X Crazyfast; perfectly suited to his agile and explosive style of play on the wing. Lamine grew up in Rocafonda, 40 minutes from his club’s training ground, and remains proud of his roots in the area," it said in a statement.

"The partnership announcement film that has been posted on adidasFootball channels in collaboration with Lamine celebrates his football journey and connection to the 304, Rocafonda’s area code," it added.

The exact terms of the deal have not been made public. But the video alone shows that this is a serious commitment to an exciting talent. And Yamal deserves it, too.

There is a prevailing sense that the Blaugrana have been searching for a player like Yamal for some time. The idea of a 'new Messi' has long haunted the halls of La Masia, Barcelona's famed youth academy. At times, it seems like an obsession.

He comes from a long-line of supposed Messi successors - most of which have been unequivocal failures. Bojan, Messi's contemporary at the club, burned out fast - and later admitted that the comparisons to the world's best left a serious mark on his mental health. Giovani Dos Santos and Riqui Puig received much the same treatment - and never delivered on the promise.

The closest thus far has been Ansu Fati. He seemed an ideal replacement. Fifteen years younger than Messi, but a similarly exciting player, he was given the No.10 shirt when the Argentine reluctantly left for PSG in 2021. But that, too, proved to be too much for the teenager, who, four knee surgeries later, is struggling to make the grade at Brighton.

Yamal, it would seem, is the closest thing the Blaugrana have developed to a viable replacement.

The positional similarities are here: Yamal is a left-footed right winger. The skills are, too. Yamal can beat a player with his dribbling prowess and find the bottom corner with an angled shot.

He also has just enough swagger about his game to wow the Barcelona faithful without overplaying in key areas.

The stats - five goals and four assists in all competitions - don't jump off the page. But superstardom stretches beyond numbers. It's about the intangible qualities. Yamal has them.

It's something that the current Barca squad is missing all over the pitch. A cursory glance at the starting XI shows a number of very talented and likeable footballers - but no global megastars. The word 'Galactico' is only used in a different major sporting city in Spain.

Still, players of that same stratospheric talent are hard to come by. The Blaugrana have always had at least one. Messi and Neymar were there at the same time. Before them were Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff.

This iteration of Barca - outside of burgeoning star Yamal - doesn't really have one. Robert Lewandowski will go down as a legend of the game. But his fame doesn't stretch beyond football; and he isn't one for massive ad campaigns, either. Pedri, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong are all midfield artists, but share the same issue.

Ronald Araujo, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jules Kounde and Ilkay Gundogan all have social media presences - almost all footballers do these days. Still, none of them are impactful enough to make waves beyond football fan communities. You'd struggle to find a kid on the streets of Catalonia aspiring to be a tidy French full-back.

It is ironic that this all comes just nine months removed from a season of immense success. Barca coasted their way to a first Spanish top flight title since 2019 last season, claiming La Liga by 10 points. But the manner in which they won didn't catch the eye. This was an excellent defensive team that only let in 20 goals all season. They scored 15 fewer than in the 2020-21 campaign, a season in which the Blaugrana finished third. Put more simply: this version of Barcelona is boring.

But there is danger in this all. Xavi has managed expectations around Yamal in recent months. When the youngster debuted, in April 2023, Xavi swiftly compared him to Messi. He did the same thing again in July - only heaping pressure on a talented youngster.

Since then, though, Yamal's minutes have been checked. He has started only 13 of 25 league games, and was benched altogether when the Blaugrana breezed past Getafe last weekend. Eight Barcelona players have been on the pitch for longer than Yamal in all competitions, and he is 11th in the club in games started.

Although he has been trusted in big games over the last month - most recently starting against Napoli in the Champions League - Xavi has also benched him in two Clasicos. It's a point of frustration for some Cules, but perhaps also a shrewd move.

Barcelona's recent history with young talent is mixed. Gavi and Pedri were run into the ground as teenagers, and have suffered as a result. Pedri has chronic hamstring issues and is still only 21. Gavi, just 19, suffered a torn ACL on Spain duty in a fixture he didn't need to appear in.

Alejandro Balde is another casualty, the talented 20-year-old left-back tearing his hamstring - an injury that has ruled him out for the rest of the campaign. Yamal might be the new face of the club, but he isn't operating in a place that has protected the legs of its biggest talents.

Still, Barca need him. The Blaugrana are, once again, in financial trouble. For all of Joan Laporta's lever-pulling antics, the Catalan club are still in heavy debt. They have seen their salary limit reduced for a third straight season, and after a media company didn't deliver on a promised payment, find themselves short of cash on hand. The signing of Vitor Roque offered promise, but it is unlikely that they will be able to pay up for the biggest names on the market this summer.

The quest for talent must start internally, then. La Masia has long been a gold mine that has produced some of the biggest names in world football. Messi is just one of hundreds, with Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and more all coming out of the famed system. And Yamal is the poster boy.

There's a real authenticity to his tale. Yamal grew up less than a 15-minute drive from Barcelona's training ground. He watched videos of Messi as a child - and took a now-famous photograph with the Barca legend as a nine-year-old. This is a homegrown talent, who seems well on his way to becoming world-class.

The pressure is tangible. Yamal's story is not particularly unique - nor is it one that tends to have a happy ending. But for a Barca side that needs its next big hope, their Adidas starboy could be the future of the club.