Paris Saint-Germain have been tipped to test Barcelona’s resolve to keep hold of 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal during the summer transfer window.
Yamal has emerged as a star of the present and future this season, having initially made his first-team debut at the age of just 15 last April. The teenager has made 44 appearances so far in 2023/24 and has been one of the team’s most influential players since Christmas.
Le Parisien claims to have information corroborating a March report which alleged a €200m bid had been made, stating Yamal is the “priority” attacking target for PSG ahead of next season.
Although not a direct replacement for Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe, Yamal is thought to have been identified as someone who could try to fill the gap. It is claimed there is no such thing as “non-transferable” if it were to be the case that the youngster showed any desire to move on.
Later in March, Barcelona president Joan Laporta appeared to confirm the story of the €200m offer, but was adamant that the club is not interested in selling, nor has a financial need to.
“We have received offers for players like Lamine Yamal, for €200m, and we have said no. Because we trust the boy, because he is the future of the team,” Laporta said.
“Because we trust in the boy, in his sporting potential, and we don’t have the need, on the contrary. We are in a process of economic recovery and we are already seeing the end of the tunnel.
“We have offers for all our youngsters Pedri, [Alejandro] Balde, Gavi, [Ronald] Araujo. But we don’t want to sell our stars.”
PSG famously poached Neymar from Barcelona in 2017 after triggering what was thought to be a prohibitive €200m release clause. The Catalans learned their lesson after that saga and eventually began to implement a policy of €1bn clauses in the contracts of their top stars, as fierce rivals Real Madrid had already done with Cristiano Ronaldo as early as 2009.
Yamal’s current clause is precisely that following his most recent deal, signed in October. He briefly terrorised PSG during the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against them, setting up Barcelona’s opening goal, but was sacrificed when Ronald Araujo was sent off in the first half.
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