How Lamine Yamal almost ended up at Bayern

Bayern Munich showed serious interest in Lamine Yamal when he was still playing youth football for FC Barcelona.

Since breaking into FC Barcelona’s first team at a very young age, Lamine Yamal has developed into one of the world’s biggest stars.

However, according to Bild journalist Christian Falk’s new book, ‘Transfer-Insider’, the 18-year-old could have joined Bayern Munich before even making his professional debut for Barcelona.

Falk reports that in February 2022 – more than a year before Yamal’s debut – Bayern sent a delegation, including then sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and technical director Marco Neppe, to Spain. 

Their primary target was midfielder Gavi, who has since broken into Barcelona’s first team as well, but they also took notice of Yamal and tried to arrange a meeting with his agent, Iván de la Peña.

However, before the meeting could take place, Yamal switched to super-agent Jorge Mendes, who placed a €5 million price tag on the youngster. 

Considering Yamal’s age, a transfer would only have been possible around July 2023, and Bayern considered the price too high at the time.

In April 2023, Yamal made his professional debut for Barcelona, putting any move to Bayern out of reach. Barcelona quickly extended his contract until 2026, and in May this year, another extension tied the rising star to the club until 2031.