With domestic European action on hold right now for the March international break and round of games, in recent days there has been a phenomenal piece of news come out of the Barcelona camp, and it rather unsurprisingly centres around La Masia graduate Lamine Yamal.
Barca fans got a small glimpse of him last season when he appeared as a late substitute in April’s victory over Real Betis, however the young 16 year old attacking talent has wowed everyone in the wider world of football in the 2023/24 campaign with his first team performances. With 20 starting appearances to his name, with a further 19 showings from the substitutes bench – he is clearly not looking out of place at this level.
Having scored six times for Barca already, he has also laid on four assists, and despite only just making his breakthrough, he now has four caps for his country to his name – two full Spanish starts and two substitute showings and few Zambian top betting sites would have seen that kind of success coming this quickly.
Naturally, the young lad has plenty of eyes on him right now and it has now been reported that the club have turned down a firm £172 million offer from fellow European giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Club president Joan Laporta confirmed the bid when he appeared on the Barca Studios podcast and he explained.
“We have received offers for players like Lamine Yamal, for €200m [£172m], and we have said no. Because we trust the boy, because he is the future of the team.”
Laporte also went on to talk about the financial side of the club, insisting that the hard work was beginning to pay off now and that they were firmly in the process of economic recovery, and he felt that he was now seeing the end of the tunnel appearing. So even on that front, he reiterated that despite the size of the almost world record fee offer, there was absolute no pressure on him to even entertain the idea of potentially selling the young boy for those reasons, so fans can, and will, get the opportunity of seeing how he will develop in future years for themselves.
Earlier this month there was strong speculation in the Spanish media that the offer had been made, and pretty much instantly rejected by the club, but it did leave some wondering as to whether or not it was entirely accurate, but with Laporte’s confirmation that puts the rumours completely to bed.
Barcelona fans will naturally be delighted that the club did not even feel the need to entertain doing a deal for financial reasons, as Yamal’s future has long been incredibly bright as he continued his development in the La Masia youth ranks, and just last year we struck terms with him on a new and fresh eight year agreement that will come into play pretty much the second he turns 18 and can officially sign a senior agreement for himself.
It undoubtedly cements his future in Catalonia, and if nothing else, it absolutely demonstrates just how bright a future the club feel that he is set to have, and it is also a massive show of faith in him continuing to work hard, knuckle down, not get carried away and reach his true potential.
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