Only the signature is missing. And it will be this September when Barcelona officially shields Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal until 2026 and 2026 respectively. Both will sign their continuity in the Barcelona entity from September 13 when they return from the first international break that they will play with the absolute Spanish team. Both will have a termination clause of 1,000 million euros.
Lamine Yamal, a 16-year-old winger and the big surprise at the start of the season, will sign his first professional contract and remain linked to the Barça club until 2026. In other words, for three more years, the maximum allowed by the regulations as he is a minor. The youth squad player, who continues to live at La Masia, will have a record from the subsidiary. The relationship of Alejandro Balde is different, who has already been registered as a first-team player and who wore the number 3 shirt for the first time against Osasuna. The left-back will extend his contractual relationship with Barcelona until 2028.
The agreement was reached on July 19, the day the team left on tour to the United States. It was necessary to generate enough salary space to be able to register them, especially Alejandro Balde, who has grown meteorically. He showed up for the FC Barcelona tour of the United States without knowing if he would manage to stay. At that time, the former football director Mateu Alemany had not yet managed to close the signing of Marcos Alonso and the youth squad player arrived as the only alternative to Jordi Alba. Marcos Alonso landed.
But Bucket didn’t go anywhere. He exploded, convinced and sat down Jordi Alba. He received offers from all over the world but he, also represented by Jorge Mendes, did not want to listen to them. His priority was always to remain in the club that he joined at the age of 8 from San Gabriel. Although his family and his teachers saw him with possibilities in athletics, it was precisely at San Gabriel, a club where he began to touch the ball for the first time, who recommended that he not change the soccer field for the tracks. . With the Spanish team he ended up playing in the World Cup in Qatar.
These days will also mean the first experience as an international of the Lamine Yamal absolute. The explosive 16-year-old left winger also had offers to leave. “Nothing like it has been seen since Messi,” they say from the sports city of the also represented by Jorge Mendes. Lamine Yamal was born in Esplugues de Llobregat to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother and lived as a child in Mataró and Granollers. Until Barça captured him. In addition to being the youngest debutant in the history of Barça and also the youngest to start, if Lamine Yamal makes his debut with the national team, he will become the youngest footballer to have minutes with the senior team, surpassing another Barça player, Gavi , who debuted at 17 years and 62 days.
