The deal between Lamine Yamal and Barcelona

Lamine Yamal returned to the Barça first team against Sevilla at the age of 16. He was unable to get on the scoresheet for the first time, but he did play a key role in the opening goal, as his header ended with the ball being knocked into the Sevilla goal by Sergio Ramos.

Next Wednesday he can try again to make his Champions League debut against Porto. It will be two days after Barça make his renewal official after an event without media, which will be categorised as a grassroots football level renewal, considering he is 16, despite his explosion into the first team.

The winger, the jewel in the Barça youth academy, was due to sign his first professional contract after turning 16. And he did so before travelling with the first team to the tour of the United States in the presence of his family.

Tomorrow he will officially sign with the club until 30 June 2026, for three seasons, the maximum that the law stipulates for players of his age. He will have a release clause of 1 billion euros.

However, Barça have already reached an agreement with the player's agent, Jorge Mendes, to extend the contract until 30 June 2030. The agreement between the two parties is firm and has been signed in private. When Lamine Yamal reaches adult age, the current contract will be broken and a new one will be signed until 2030, with a substantial increase in salary for a player who is breaking all records he comes across.

In the negotiations, given the number of offers that Lamine Yamal received, the intervention of the new sporting director of the club, Deco, who has a close friendship with Mendes and Sergio Alves, the right-hand man of the Portuguese agent, was key.

The striker, who made his first-team debut last season at the age of 15 years and 290 days, has settled into the first team and played in all nine official matches played this season, eight in La Liga and one in the Champions League. He has started four of them.