Laporta recalls rejecting €250 million PSG offer for Barcelona wonderkid – ‘People thought we were crazy’

Talking on the launch of his e book “Així hem salvat el Barça” (“That is how we saved Barça”), former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta recalled how his administration rejected an enormous bid for teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.

Following his breakthrough marketing campaign with the Blaugrana in 2023/24, in Xavi Hernandez’s closing season in cost, Lamine attracted robust curiosity from PSG in the summertime of 2024.

With the Parisian giants dropping Kylian Mbappe to Actual Madrid, they had been in search of a press release signing in assault and had their sights on Lamine, regardless of him being solely 17 on the time.

The teenager’s good run on the UEFA Euro 2024, the place he helped Spain raise the trophy, solely strengthened PSG’s curiosity, prompting them to launch a mammoth €250 million bid, which Barça rejected.

Recalling that second from his tenure as president, forward of the upcoming elections, Laporta remarked (h/t Jijantes):

“When PSG provided us €250 million for Lamine Yamal, and we rejected it, he was 17 years outdated; some individuals thought we had been loopy.”

It have to be famous that on the time, Barça had been in a tough scenario financially, and such an enormous sale would have made issues so much simpler for the membership. Nonetheless, Laporta’s administration opted to show the provide down.

Since then, Lamine has continued to scale higher heights, establishing himself as among the finest forwards within the sport at present, regardless of being solely 18 years outdated.

The younger La Masia product was key to Barcelona’s home treble success final season and even completed second within the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings.

Given his high quality and potential, the sky is the restrict for Lamine, with membership legend Andres Iniesta backing him to win the Ballon d’Or sooner quite than later.