Why PSG won from Barcelona’s €250m Lamine Yamal transfer rejection

Messi mistake 

With the Barcelona presidential elections approaching on the horizon, Joan Laporta has repeated his claim that he rejected a world-record bid for Lamine Yamal in 2024. Ahead of Euro 2024, Spanish outlets reported that PSG had tabled a €250 million offer for the wonderkid and Laporta admitted those claims were true later that year.

It’s understood that PSG attempted to sign Yamal just before his 17th birthday when he truly announced himself as a global superstar by inspiring Spain to glory at the European championships. And in an interview with Twitch channel Jijantes FC this week, Laporta has reaffirmed the story, stating: “Paris Saint-Germain offered us 250 million euros for Lamine Yamal two years ago. We turned it down. He was 17 years old – some people called us crazy.” Hindsight is a wonderful thing and with that, we’ve analysed whether PSG ultimately benefitted from Barcelona’s decision to reject their offer for Yamal.

Were PSG the real winners from the rejected Yamal bid?

Firstly, Yamal is unquestionably one of the best players in the world and he possesses the potential to become an all-time great. The 18-year-old is the joint-most valuable player on the planet and the winger’s 88 goal involvements in 138 games, since his professional debut, is more than any other U21 starlet. Therefore, Yamal would have undoubtedly been a success at PSG and there’s no questioning his talent, but did PSG utilise that €250m more efficiently? The answer is, yes.

As the graphic above illustrates, PSG’s total spend on transfers across the subsequent season totalled €256 million – just €6m more than their reported Yamal bid. The Parisian giants acquired Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, João Neves, Désiré Doué, William Pacho and Matvey Safonov with four of those players integral to their Champions League success that season. The most coveted trophy in club football was the holy grail for PSG and they finally lifted the famous trophy after decades of spending fortunes chasing glory.

Much like Real Madrid’s ‘Galatico’ policy in the early 2000s, PSG signed high-profile superstars in their attempts to win the Champions League – famously forming a front three of Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Lionel Messi. But despite reaching the 2020 final, PSG failed to reach their objective and their team lacked balance especially after Messi’s arrival, which Luis Enrique rectified brilliantly during the 2024/25 season. The former Barcelona boss implemented a thrilling style of football with a cohesive team that all understood their roles and worked for each other.

Rather than sign a superstar in Yamal, PSG benefitted from signing several players that were instrumental to their Champions League success – Doué, Neves, Pacho and Kvaratskhelia all starred in the 5-0 final rwin over Inter Milan. Doué and Kvaratskhelia scored in the final with the Frenchman making the team of the tournament, Pacho formed a formidable centre-back partnership with Marquinhos and Neves has been brilliant for PSG, developing into one of world’s best midfielders. Therefore, it’s difficult to argue against Barcelona’s decision to reject the Yamal bid being a blessing in disguise for PSG and that’s no disrespect to the Spaniard’s undeniable brilliance – it’s a rare decision in football that best suited all parties.