Cesc Fabregas says he understands why Barcelona's teenage star Lamine Yamal is so often compared to all-time great and fellow former Barca player Lionel Messi.
However Fabregas, who also came through the ranks at Camp Nou before also featuring for Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League, has urged the prospect to "follow his own path".
Fabregas now coaches Italian club Como while Messi is currently winding down his playing career at MLS side Inter Miami.
The 2010 World Cup winner went into detail on the nature of such comparisons, why they are to be expected and how a talent such as the 17-year-old can avoid letting the hype bring him down in an interview with ESPN.
"I can understand it [comparisons with Messi]," Fabregas said. "I don't like it because I think every player is different and we all have our own story.
"And now Lamine needs to follow his own road and create his own pathway. But definitely there are signs that always make you go back to what Leo [Messi] used to be.
"I think it's completely normal, especially also the Barcelona fans coming from a difficult period of years where there's been some difficulties.
"So I think the excitement that Lamine brings to the table nowadays, it's very important. It's like Leo, you know, in difficult times he stepped up for the team.
"And I think with Lamine, the potential is there to do very, very well for many years at Barcelona."
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Fabregas also made it clear just how highly he rates Lamine Yamal.
"I think he's a unique talent," he continued. "He's someone that you just need to let him go out and play football.
"He will always make a difference when he's pressed. When he's not pressed, he always finds the right solution, even if it's an individual action or a one, two, or the last ball, or give continuity to the play, whatever the game demands in that moment.
"He's capable of reading [a game] and he's capable of understanding what it needs.
"I think this is already a sign of a big player, of a very mature player. And what I like the most is that it feels like he's playing in the street. It feels like everything becomes so easy for him. He's free in the mind."