Thuram was speaking after Yamal's goalscoring performance for Barcelona in their 3-3 draw last night for their Champions League semifinal first-leg.
Asked, "Is Yamal the best in the world?", Thuram, interviewed by Canal+, was blunt: "I don't think so.
"The best player in the world is French, and the second best too. They are Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé. Yamal is the third, perhaps."
Maybe you need eleven players to stop him!
However, on Yamal's performance, Thuram also said: “I encouraged (Fede) Dimarco, I told him that it was normal that Yamal had managed to score, that he would have done it anyway, no matter what happened, but that we shouldn't give up and keep bothering him.
"You can't stop players like that on your own; you only stop them as a team. Double-marking him? Maybe with eleven players…”