Amidst the lack of results and Xavi’s decision to leave the club, the biggest positive that FC Barcelona can take away from the current season is the exponential growth of Lamine Yamal.
The youngster has developed a lot in the last few months and has become an automatic starter for Xavi, even relegating significantly more experienced players like Raphinha. However, his growth has not gone unnoticed by other big European clubs.
One club that has kept its eyes on the youngster is the French side Paris Saint Germain, which is going to lose Kylian Mbappe in the coming summer, after having already lost Neymar and Messi in the last summer transfer window.
The Parisians are now looking to replace the departing Frenchman in their squad, and one of the players they have chosen for this purpose is none other than Lamine Yamal. In fact, as MARCA has reported, PSG are willing to offer as much as €200 million to Barcelona for the 16-year-old winger.
The Catalans are also aware of this interest in their youngster from the Parisians, and this interest was the subject of the meeting between Jorge Mendes and Joan Laporta last week.
But even with the mammoth price offered by PSG, the report claims that Barcelona have already rejected the Parisians’ advances. Such a big fee would have solved a lot of Barcelona’s economic problems in one fell swoop and would have allowed the club to return to the 1:1 rule.
However, the sporting implications of such a move would have been too adverse for Barcelona, as they understand that Yamal is the biggest star to have grown out of La Masia since Lionel Messi and his sale would not only rob the club’s squad of one of the most promising players in the world, but such an exit would also be very difficult to explain to the fans.
Thus, Barcelona have decided to retain the 16-year-old crown jewel of the group of youngsters that are expected to take the team forward in years to come.
