PSG preparing a blockbuster offer to Barcelona for Lamine Yamal.
Paris Saint-Germain is willing to go all out to mitigate the damage caused by Mbappé’s departure to Real Madrid, according to Luis Rojo of MARCA. The Frenchman will join the Madrid side, and Al Khelaifi has already sprung into action to find a player who can restore excitement to the Parisian club, which has seen Messi, Neymar, and now Mbappé leave in just two years. PSG’s chosen replacement for him is Lamine Yamal. And they haven’t held back in spending money. The French club is willing to pay €200 million for the player, an astronomical figure for a 16-year-old, according to MARCA. It would be the second-largest transfer in football history.
The first, ironically, also occurred between these two clubs when PSG paid Neymar’s €222 million release clause. Barcelona is aware of PSG’s interest in the player and the amount they are willing to pay for him. This was one of the reasons Jorge Mendes traveled to Barcelona this week to meet with Joan Laporta. The agent conveyed the interest from the Parisians in signing the young Barcelona player, although the Barça board was already aware of this interest.
The response given to PSG is that they will not sell Lamine Yamal. At Can Barça, they say he is the most valuable player La Masía has produced since Leo Messi. And he’s proving it this season; you only need to look at Friday’s game, where he scored a superb goal that left Javier Aguirre astonished. He has secured a starting position, clearly surpassing players like Raphinha, who cost a good amount. At the moment, he is a guaranteed starter and will be in the future.
However, Barcelona is broke. They have many problems with the wage bill, and there is no way to find the millions that Libero promised back in the day, which handcuffs the club when it comes to entering the market. Selling Lamine Yamal for €200 million would be an immediate solution. The club would have the capacity to make one-for-one signings. That is, every euro that goes out, one comes in, rather than the current one-to-two ratio.
However, Barça will not sell because they don’t want a short-term solution, and furthermore, selling the crown jewel would be very difficult to explain to the fans. Yamal is the player who generates the most excitement among the supporters. The group of young players who have emerged recently, including Araujo, Gavi, Pedri, Cubarsí, Balde, Fermín, and especially Lamine Yamal, are the pride of the fans, who are aware that the team is not currently in a position to win major titles, but as they grow, they will be. The crop that has emerged is a guarantee for the future upon which the new Barcelona should be based.
That’s why the sale of the group’s flagship player will not happen. Laporta knows that those €200 million would relieve them greatly financially, but in sporting terms, it would be a historic mistake. That’s why they slapped a €1 billion release clause on him to prevent the player from leaving as Neymar did one day.
