Man Utd conduct ‘extensive work’ on signing next Lamine Yamal
Manchester United have already conducted “extensive work” on scouting Lens teenage sensation Mezian Mesloub, a young attacker who has already been likened to Lamine Yamal.
Mesloub has been making impressive strides in Lens’ first team at the age of 16, scoring just 11 seconds into his Ligue 1 debut and also playing a critical role in securing a Champions League win over Sparta Prague last week.
His bravery on the ball and willingness to directly take on opponents has seen him likened to Barcelona star Lamine and has caught the eye of Man Utd, who TeamTalk reports have already done a good deal of groundwork into a potential move.
Man Utd face signing challenge: Clubs queuing up for Mesloub
United face a challenge to sign Mesloub, with clubs around Europe tracking the youngster.
PSG and Monaco are among the Ligue 1 clubs following the 16-year-old, but interest also comes from the likes of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Arsenal and Chelsea want the teen, though the English clubs find themselves at a disadvantage because they cannot move for him until he turns 18 in November 2027.
No permanent move will therefore be possible until January 2028 for United.
On top of this, Mesloub’s development suggests that he will be playing regular first-team football by that point of his career. Any club that takes him on will, therefore, need to have a development plan for him around their starting XI.
Benfica previously tried to prise him away from Lens, but he chose to stay in France instead.
But what’s caused the clamour to sign the young sensation?
Why Mesloub is already being compared to Lamine Yamal
Mesloub’s entrance on the right wing against Sparta Prague in the Champions League sparked social media comparisons to Barcelona star Lamine Yamal.
There were obvious similarities. He operated on the right wing and showed the same sense of bravado in possession. The technique looked natural and the low centre of gravity in his dribbling was devastating. There was a willingness to take responsibility for his team, a desire to be daring and a bravery to execute it. Even with his side under pressure, he repeatedly demanded possession. Most importantly, he was able to impact the match positively for his side.
Mesloub's 11-second introduction to professional football
Mesloub, the son of Algeria international Walid Mesloub, hit the ground running in the professional game, taking just 11 seconds to match his father’s career total of one Ligue 1 goal.
He had been thrown on as a wildcard late in a home encounter with Nantes that Lens needed to win in order to maintain their hopes of beating PSG to the Ligue 1 title.
Ten seconds later, he gathered the ball on the edge of the box, took a touch and delivered a shot across the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net. By the time he had played 11 seconds of professional football, he had collected his first match-winning goal. It is also the fastest Ligue 1 goal scored by a substitute this century.
Mesloub takes his Lamine Yamal comparison to Europe
Four months after announcing himself in France, he produced another glimpse of why the Lamine Yamal comparisons are emerging, this time on the European stage. Once again he was called upon to save his side, and once again he delivered.
Lens were trailing 1-0 to 10-man Sparta Prague in the Champions League, when he was thrown on after an hour. His arrival was once again impactful, though not quite so dramatically or quickly as his debut.
The French side had been rudderless offensively before his introduction, yet he showed a willingness to take responsibility for his side and drive them forward. Ultimately, it ended with an assist for Florian Thauvin, who scored Lens’ second in a dramatic 3-2 win.
Mesloub wasn’t on the scoresheet, but his fingerprints were all over the French side’s first away win in Europe during his lifetime.
“Mezian made an incredible entrance,” Ruben Aguilar, who scored the winning goal, explained after the game. “We know his talent and we're going to take good care of him. He'll continue to improve because he has great qualities.”
Head coach Dino Topmoller, who was controversially sacked this week, added: “It's incredible, at 16, to show this character, this responsibility, to say: 'I want every ball.' We knew he was a player who could be very decisive, and I have great faith in him.”
But Mesloub is not simply the 'next Lamine Yamal'
With less than a full match of professional football under his belt, it would be unfair to label Mesloub ‘the next’ anything at this point.
He is still a young player finding his way in the game and has yet to even start a single fixture.
While there are elements of Lamine Yamal to his play, he is also capable of operating more centrally.
This would make Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki a more comparable player, particularly with the Frenchman having also graduated from Ligue 1 via Lyon.
How he develops and what type of player he becomes will be determined not over a spell or weeks or months, but years.
