Barcelona have placed a salary cap on Lamin Yamal to avoid a repeat of the Lionel Messi crisis
No one can stop Lamine Yamal’s meteoric rise to football stardom, but Barcelona plan to limit the financial reward for the teenager to avoid the mistakes he made in the past, according to a report in Spain.
The 17-year-old winger may still be wearing braces and only recently moved out of the club’s academy, but he is already regarded as one of the best in the world in his position. Halfway through the current campaign, Yamal has already surpassed his personal tally of goals and assists for all of last season.
Such staggering statistics, which don’t account for the jaw-dropping moves and bloody shimmies that litter every performance, have unsurprisingly sparked conversation about renewal of the contract for Yamal.
The Spanish international has already confirmed his intention to sign a new contract, as his current deal expires in June 2026. However, Barcelona they are considered to have placed a cap on any salary offer they make, per AS.
“You can’t give 15 million euros to a 17-year-old boy because at 23 he can ask for twice as much,” a Barcelona source told the Spanish publication.
Yamal is reportedly one of Barcelona’s lowest-paid signings, collecting a reported €1.7 million a year after signing his current deal in October 2023, having made just ten first-team appearances. Barcelona’s highest paid player, Robert Lewandowskihe earns around €33 million a year (more than €540,000 a week), while Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati and Jules Kounde also bring home between €15 and €20 million.
Although Barcelona are well aware that Yamal deserves to become the top-grossing team “sooner or later”, they have burned themselves by showering the left-footed prodigy with endless contract renewals.
Lionel Messi and his agent-father Jorge infamously commanded a new contract almost every year during his legendary career at Barcelona. Ultimately, the club could not afford to renew his latest contract in the summer of 2021, leading to Messi’s tearful departure from Camp Nou.
This season, Barcelona had to appeal to the Spanish government to find room in the budget for Dani Olmo’s salary.
The Catalan giant already is facing down nine-figure bids for Yamal and have no intention of losing their prodigious striker in the same unfortunate sequence of circumstances that Messi suffered.
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