Barcelona say $270M summer bid for Lamine Yamal rejected - ESPN

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the club turned down an offer worth $270 million (€250M) for forward Lamine Yamal in the summer.

Laporta did not reveal who wanted to sign Yamal, but various reports have suggested Paris Saint-Germain had lined the teenager up as a replacement for Kylian Mbappé, who joined Real Madrid earlier this year.

Laporta made the revelation as he defended Barça's decision to let certain players leave, denying that the club's financial problems had forced their hand in certain situations.

«There are those that think we have [transferred players] to balance the accounts,» Laporta said in an interview with Barça's in-house television channel. «But that is not the case. The players that have left have left for sporting reasons.

»[Ousmane] Dembélé, [Marc] Guiu… they won't have things as good as they did at Barça at any other club.

«We know what we are doing in the transfer market. We want those that are the best and who want to be here to stay — and we have shown that.

»A club came to me to sign Lamine for €250M and I said no."

Since making his first team debut as a 15-year-old in 2023, Yamal has become a regular for club and country.

The 17-year-old has already made over 60 appearances for Barça and played a key role as Spain won the European Championships this past summer.

In an interview with ESPN this week, Cesc Fabregas labelled Yamal the biggest talent in world football, but there are already concerns over his exposure to senior football.

Barça midfielder Pedri has suffered injury problems since playing both the European Championships and the Olympic Games with Spain in the summer of 2021 and there is a desire to avoid a similar situation with Yamal.

A club vs. country row threatened to break