Why Lamine Yamal should be paid more than Robert Lewandowski

BarcelonaLamine Yamal's renewal was widely celebrated by Barcelona fans because it guaranteed the continuity of the new football star. But at the same time, many were scratching their heads wondering how it was possible that a teenager who was not yet of age could sign a deal that made him one of the team's highest-paid players, behind only Robert Lewandowski. Ultimately, it's the same economic debate that arose when Barça signed the Polish striker, a veteran striker who was then 33, in 2022 in exchange for paying Bayern Munich around €50 million and a salary of around €25 million per year. Or in 2017, when they showered Leo Messi with gold with a contract renewal that, combined with the fixed and variable salaries, would end up earning him an average of €100 million. Everyone wondered why these figures were based on these figures and whether the players really deserved it. The club's offices always maintained that they did. "No matter how much money he earns, Messi isn't expensive. He's worth it," Javier Faus, former Barça vice president of finance, once said in a meeting with journalists in which he compared the Argentine star's salary with that of other first-team players.

Messi's 100 million euros were a fortune, but they fit into the economic framework of the time. However, the most notable aspect was something else. "It was well below the 300 million euros he generated annually," they explained in the noble offices. The calculation was based on the importance of the Argentine footballer when it came to generating income. Aside from the most obvious ones, linked to his sporting performance—titles and matches won—Messi was a great lure for tourists, who were willing to pay large fortunes to see him play at the Camp Nou. But it went further than that. Of all the Barça shirts sold in official stores, the vast majority were those of the 10Sponsors associated with the club were willing to pay more to have Messi in their advertising image, and when the club went on tour, most friendlies included clauses according to which Barça would receive a bonus—or be penalized—based on the presence of its star player. Messi shared the dressing room with another big media star, Neymar, who also had a significant impact on revenue, but significantly less so.

Lamine Yamal, a stratospheric breakthrough but one who still needs to go further.

Everything that Messi represented in both the sporting and non-sporting spheres is on the way to becoming Lamine Yamal's. Despite the fact that "there are still a few seasons to go" before the winger from Rocafonda has the same influence as the Argentine, sources consulted maintain. "He has all the potential in the world, but he's missing the important titles, both with the club and individually," referring to the Champions League and the Ballon d'Or. And he's still lacking more years in his career. "Now he's the player of the moment. If he continues, he'll be a player of the era. And there's no turning back." An example of the latter can be found on social media. Lamine Yamal already has 34 million followers on his Instagram account, but he's behind Lewandowski's 38 million. Not to mention Neymar's 228 or Messi's 505.

Lamine Yamal made his Barça debut in the 22/23 season, the same season Lewandowski was signed. Back then, the youngster from La Masia was a 15-year-old with a lot of potential, although he only played a few minutes for the first team in a league match. The Pole, on the other hand, was a huge star who arrived at Barça after having shone brightly in the Bundesliga, both with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. "We had lost Messi a year earlier and things hadn't gone well. It was an investment to relaunch the Barça brand at all levels. There was an element of excitement: for the fans, for ticket sales, for sponsors... a way of saying the club was coming back."

Despite this explanation, the signing of Lewandowski provoked much internal debate. Firstly, because a lever to register him, but also due to the opposition of figures such as Mateu Alemany, the sporting director at the time, who preferred to spend the money on younger players, like Haaland (Barça tempted the Norwegian, but he preferred to go to City, who then had greater sporting potential). Time would end up proving president Joan Laporta, a great guarantor of the signing, right. In addition to winning the League and the Super Cup, Barça began to increase the income derived from the exploitation of the footballer's brand.

Lamine Yamal is the player with the highest market value at the moment, double that of the second

For many months, Robert Lewandowski's shirt was the best-selling jersey, but that began to slip in the final stretch of last season. This season, it has accelerated. Official figures, but stores explain that for every other player's shirt, they can sell up to 10 of the Rocafonda winger's shirts. His market value has skyrocketed, to the point that the French CIES Football Observatory now ranks him as the most valuable player in the world: €402.3 million, almost double that of Erling Haaland (€239.6 million) and Jude Bellingham (€233.8 million), and more than double that of Barça's Kylian Mbappe, Pedri, with a value of €143.7 million.

With all this data, Jorge Mendes, his agent, asked to update his salary based on his performance on the field and, above all, his value off the field. Because, shirts aside, Barça's new ticket-selling bait, Yamal, will earn around 20 million per season. A stratospheric figure for someone who will turn 18 this summer.