BARCELONA
PSG could target Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal if Kylian Mbappé signs for Real Madrid
The Barcelona winger is undoubtedly attracting attention across Europe, including PSG, who look set to lose one of their own stars.
PSG have already begun planning for the post-Mbappé era and the French club have a list of possible candidates to fill the gap left at the end of the season by the World Cup winner. One of the players is Lamine Yamal: the FC Barcelona star occupies a privileged place on the list of Parisian priorities this summer.
This is the message that PSG sent to Jorge Mendes, Lamine Yamal’s agent, a few weeks ago and Mendes subsequently notified the Catalan club. The answer coming from both Joan Laporta and Deco has been a resounding “no”.
Barcelona are not considering selling their franchise player. The club are convinced that the potential Lamine Yamal is showing at just 16-years-old makes it possible that he can one day become the best player in the world.
When does Lamine Yamal’s contract end? What is his release clause?
On October 2, 2023, the LaLiga club announced the renewal of Lamine Yamal’s contract until 2026. However, that contract has written in it an extension until 2026, but with conditions that may be subject to review. In fact, the Spanish international’s progression is exceeding all expectations and it should not be ruled out that Barcelona will review Lamine Yamal’s current contract before 2026 arrives.
At the moment, Lamine Yamal’s release clause stands at €1 billion ($1.1bn), so Barcelona are breathing easy in the face of the interest from Paris. They are aware that this shield guards them against a supposed hostile operation from the offices of PSG. Of course, at Barcelona they assure that under no circumstances what happened with Neymar will happen with Lamine Yamal.
On August 3, 2017, the French club announced the signing of the Brazilian forward, snatching him from Barcelona upon payment of the €222 million ($242m) of his release clause. Following that operation, Barcelona began to include sky-high release clauses for their main stars, as in the case of Lamine Yamal, as a deterrant.
PSG, for their part, believe that Barcelona’s delicate economic situation gives them the option of acquiring the young Barcelona star, although they will not pay a world-record fee for Lamine Yamal, nor will they come close to an exorbitant figure for the player.
The Parisian side have long since changed their transfer policy and do not contemplate entering a bidding war for any player in which the amounts of the operation are similar to those of the big signings they made years ago, when the Qatar project was aimed at incorporating the best players in the world, such as Neymar.
Another of the reasons that might not motivate the side to enter into an operation of such huge numbers is the risks posed by Financial Fair Play. Paying the money Barcelona ask for Lamine Yamal has not even been contemplated in the upper echelons of Paris Saint Germain, as it would mean a giant burden for the accounts in terms of Financial Fair Play, which already forced the club to pay a fine of €10 million just two years ago.
The club will analyse their options in the summer; with three competitions still to play for, nothing will be decided in March. However, as the end of the season creeps closer, there could well be movement and rumblings will not stop from any club in Europe as the transfer market comes around once again.