The French champions bid €200m to sign the teenage wonderkid, but despite the Blaugrana’s money issues, they have to keep Yamal in Catalunya
Joan Laporta has run out of levers to pull. The Barcelona president fiddled with his club’s finances for years, shifting some money here, making a deal there. But, with every possible option exhausted, the Catalan club are still in money trouble.
Heading into the summer, Barca need to sell a number of their assets just to balance the books. Laporta, though, won’t be content with just standing still. He will want to upgrade, and Barca will almost certainly need to given the strengthening that Real Madrid are planning.
There are some obvious candidates for Barca to let go, but most of those who the club are willing to sell are unlikely to fetch huge sums. One player who could, however, is Lamine Yamal, and Paris Saint-Germain have even offered to stump up €200 million (£171m/$217m) to make the teenage wonderkid part of their post-Kylian Mbappe future.
Regardless of the numbers involved, though, selling Yamal should be beyond consideration when it comes to Barca’s options this summer. The 16-year-old has to be the future of the club having been one of very few reasons for excitement amid a miserable campaign. He is the very definition of an untouchable player, and someone Barca simply have to hold onto.
Breakout season
It was common knowledge within Barcelona that Yamal was an extremely-talented prospect, with all the traits of a future star. The winger played three years above his own age-group at La Masia and regularly went viral with videos showcasing his skills. He had his picture taken alongside Lionel Messi at 13, and was called-up to first-team training at 15. Throw in the fact that he is Barcelona kid born and raised, who throws up his own area code after he finds the back of the net, and everything looked in place for him to become an icon.
Yamal did impress on his debut in April 2023, too, turning in an encouraging 12-minute cameo for a Barca side that had already locked up La Liga’s title. Xavi even insisted that Yamal could “mark an era” after the game.
Still, that era wasn’t supposed to start so soon. Yamal stated his claim for a spot in the XI as early as August, when he turned the Joan Gamper Trophy on its head with an electric performance against Tottenham to secure a 4-2 win. A mixture of injuries and suspensions forced his inclusion in Xavi’s line-up at various points in August and September, and the goals, assists and highlight-reel moments followed.
By Christmas, Yamal was an important member of the Barcelona squad. These days, he’s indispensable.
Shining light
His emergence comes amid a miserable season for the Blaugrana. Xavi’s side always figured to endure a difficult title defence, as for all of their success last season, there was an overwhelming feeling that Real Madrid were retooling, and always likely to improve on a disappointing 2022-23 campaign. Barca, meanwhile, did admittedly little to strengthen over the summer.
The shortcomings have shown from day one. Xavi’s side are shaky at both ends of the pitch; lacking ideas in front of goal while looking devoid of the defensive solidity that carried them to a first league title in four years.
Individual slumps haven’t helped, either. Robert Lewandowski’s goal-scoring numbers have plummeted, while Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo have been short of their best in defence. Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s back problems have also had an impact – as have injuries to first-choice midfielders Gavi, Pedri and Frenkie de Jong. Xavi may have surprised a few when he announced his pending resignation in January, but he didn’t really have much reason to stick around.
Still, for as much as this season has gone poorly, the Blaugrana can take solace in the wave of promising youngsters that have come into the side, of which Yamal is the centre-piece, the Bukayo Saka-esque winger who looks capable of carrying Barca for the next two decades. Alongside him, Pau Cubarsi has burst onto the scene, emerging as the best centre-back to come through La Masia in years. Fermin Lopez has also impressed, a buzzing midfield presence who is poised to be in the mix for a while. Even in this most forgettable of campaigns, there is reason for optimism.
Financial woes
The foundations are in place, then. The issue remains, though, that Barca cannot build upon them. The Blaugrana’s financial issues began when former president Josep Bartomeu effectively bankrupted the club during his tenure, managing his finances poorly and making a series of catastrophic transfer and business decisions. Things got so bad that they couldn’t afford to re-sign Messi in 2021, and he left in tears for PSG.
After a year of misery, Laporta came up with a novel way of solving the problems caused by his predecessor. He made a series of risky deals that raised cash immediately in exchange for long-term security – mortgaging Barca’s future to improve the present. And in a sense, it worked. Barca won the league and reasserted their status atop Spanish football.
However, things have declined sharply since then. The club’s open warfare with La Liga president Javier Tebas has ruined their historically strong negotiating position on spending policy. Thus, Barca will need to halve the value of their squad if they are to buy new players at a proportional rate this summer.
Meanwhile, some of the deals Laporta made last summer have failed to come to fruition, with one partner – German investor fund, Libero – still owing around €40m (£35m/42m). Last year, Tebas also banned the use of so-called financial ‘levers’ to raise further cash. Barca, then, are out of options.
Need to sell
The only choice, then, is to sell players where they can. Barca’s currently salary cap lies at €270m, but according to La Liga’s spending predictions, that will shrink to just €204m next season. That does not mean that Barca will be ruled financially ineligible, or face any direct sanctions for being over it. Rather, they will have their spending power limited – and be forced to sell before they can buy players at a proportional rate.
There are some easy decisions that will help with the problem. Veterans Sergi Roberto and Marcos Alonso are both set to depart, while a number of senior figures have already volunteered to take wage cuts. Having Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix’s wages off the books – assuming that neither player makes their loan move permanent – should also help. Loanees Ansu Fati and Eric Garcia also figure to leave, which clears further room.
But these are tweaks, acts of penny-pinching rather than wholesale moves, and so Barca still need to make some serious deals.
On the chopping block
In terms of assets who could bring in substantial sums, the most obvious candidate figures to be Raphinha. The Brazil international has shown improvements of late, with four goal contributions in his last five games, but he still hasn’t been a roaring success since making his €65m (£55m/$66m) switch from Leeds United in 2022. He has been linked with a number of top clubs in recent months, including Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea. Even out of form, he should fetch a healthy return – and doesn’t figure to be missed much when he leaves.
Araujo, too, has been linked with an exit. The Uruguay centre-back was among the best in his position in Europe last season, but has failed to replicate that form this campaign. And although Araujo has asserted that his preference is to stay in Catalunya, elite teams are sniffing around, most notably Bayern Munich, who need something resembling reliability in central defence.
De Jong leaving also remains a possibility after he almost departed for Manchester United in 2022, and it would be little surprise if he were the sacrifice Barca eventually make. Even Gavi and Pedri have cropped up in the blur that is the Spanish footballing media as potential sales, though Laporta would be loathe to lose either of Spain’s brightest midfield prospects before their prime years.
Untouchable
And so to Yamal. In early March, Marca reported that Barcelona had received a verbal offer upwards of €200m (£170m/$218m) from PSG for the forward – something Laporta later confirmed was accurate. Such a deal would make Yamal the second-most expensive footballer of all time, and the second-biggest outright sale in Barca history – both records that are currently held by Neymar’s move to PSG.
Such a fee is obviously tempting. Financially, it would seem to put the club back on track, given it would be pure profit on an academy product. Barca aren’t likely to go under any time soon, but selling their most prized asset for an astromical amount would certainly allow them to recover and start anew.
The Parisian perspective makes some sense, too. They are all-but certain to lose Mbappe to Madrid this summer, and need a new superstar forward to lead the team into its next era. Yamal is not Mbappe, but if there ever was a young talent that could be built around and entrusted with becoming the face of the French giants for years to come, then it would be the 16-year-old.
Still, for all of the financial benefits, Barca are a footballing institution, and Yamal is the best thing to come through their academy in years. And so at a crucial juncture in their history – one in which they might be faced with the daunting mediocrity of a rebuild – the teenager simply has to stay in Catalunya. No price tag can justify his sale.