Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that the club dismissed a monumental €250 million offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Lamine Yamal during the 2024 summer transfer window. Presenting his latest book, Així hem salvat el Barça (How We Saved Barça), on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, Laporta detailed the immense pressure to sell the young prodigy to the French champions. The Parisian club reportedly identified the Spanish winger as the primary successor to Kylian Mbappé, who had recently departed for Real Madrid on a free transfer.
The proposed fee would have shattered the existing global transfer record of €222 million, which PSG famously paid to trigger Neymar’s release from Barcelona in 2017. Despite the club’s well-documented financial constraints at the time, Laporta insists that the sporting value of the 17-year-old outweighed any immediate fiscal gain. Yamal’s rapid ascent following his breakout 2023/24 campaign and his subsequent heroics at Euro 2024 made him an “untouchable” asset in the Eyes of the Blaugrana hierarchy.
“When PSG offered us €250 million for Lamine Yamal, and we rejected it, he was 17 years old; some people thought we were crazy,” Laporta said.
The timing of this revelation coincides with Laporta’s campaign for the upcoming Barcelona presidential elections scheduled for March 15, 2026. He argued that keeping Yamal was a foundational decision for the club’s long-term competitive health, rather than a reckless financial move. Since the rejection of that bid, Yamal has further validated the club’s stance by finishing second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or and securing a long-term contract extension with a staggering €1 billion release clause.
Industry analysts suggest that the €250 million proposal represented a unique moment in football history where a teenager’s market value exceeded the GDP of some small nations. However, Laporta maintains that the decision to prioritize the La Masia graduate over a record-breaking windfall has redefined the club’s modern era. As Barcelona continues its resurgence on the European stage, the story of the rejected Parisian millions serves as a testament to their commitment to youth over short-term survival.
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