Barcelona Secure Lamine Yamal’s Future with Lucrative Long-Term Contract
In a significant move, Barcelona has secured the future of their talented teenager, Lamine Yamal, with a new long-term contract that will keep him at the club until 2031. According to a report by The Athletic, the deal, which is active from now, rather than when Yamal turns 18 on July 13, puts him alongside the squad’s top earners, including Robert Lewandowski.
The contract, which was negotiated by Yamal’s agent, Jorge Mendes, with Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, and sporting director, Deco, could see Yamal become the club’s highest-paid player if he achieves all the performance-related bonuses. The total package of salary, bonuses, and signing-on fee could reach just shy of €40million (£33.5m; $45.3m) a year before tax, with around 50 per cent of this being paid in tax, in line with Spanish regulations.
Yamal’s previous contract extension was signed in October 2023, when he was 16 and had become the youngest player to start a league game for Barcelona’s first team. However, his rapid progression has meant he has outgrown the terms that were previously agreed. As The Athletic reported, Yamal’s camp and Barcelona’s executives had assumed that his contract would need to be revisited.
Deco recently emphasised the importance of securing Yamal’s future, stating, “The best signing to do in summer? Lamine Yamal signing a new contract. We are on the right track with it. I want him to win a Ballon d’Or with Barca.” Sources involved in the negotiations confirmed that Yamal’s camp believe he is the biggest difference-maker in Hansi Flick’s double-winning team and therefore entitled to be compensated as such.
Yamal has been outstanding for Barcelona during their brilliant season under Flick, scoring 18 goals and providing 21 assists as they won La Liga and the Copa del Rey. His base salary for 2024-25 was around €3m a year, which has now been multiplied by at least 10. According to sources, his base salary will be set at around €30m a year before tax, with performance-related bonuses and signing bonuses taking him above Lewandowski to become Barcelona’s top earner.
Barcelona will play with the structure of the deal to make it more affordable to their books, as Laporta hinted in an interview. The club’s president stated, “It will be interesting to see how we address it regarding the duration of the deal. Barca right now can afford a deal of a certain extent, and we hope that there is a willingness from their side as well. The salary needs to match the importance of the player in the team, no matter the age he has. He is a special case and needs special treatment.”
The deal is a significant coup for Barcelona, who have secured the future of one of the brightest stars in world football. As The Athletic reported, Yamal’s status as a graduate from Barcelona’s academy would help facilitate the registration of his contract. Industry sources now wonder what Barcelona will be able to offer Yamal when he turns 24 and is likely to have become an even more influential player.
The contract negotiations were quick and straightforward, with Mendes flying into Barcelona twice in the past two weeks to finalise the deal. There was a sense that Barcelona “owed” Mendes from last summer, when the club chose not to extend or make permanent the loan moves of Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix, two other Mendes clients.
Yamal’s new deal is a testament to his hard work and dedication, as he stated in his press conference before the Champions League semi-final against Inter in May, “Fear while playing the game? I left all my fears in the park of my neighbourhood, back in Mataro, a while ago. As long as I keep winning, haters can’t say anything to me.”
This article is based on reporting by The Athletic and can be found at The New York Times
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