How Bayern missed out on Lamine Yamal: the story of a failed transfer
In 2022, Bayern Munich came astonishingly close to signing one of Barcelona's brightest young talents, Lamine Yamal.
Details: The latest edition of Bild football insider Christian Falk's book, Transfer-Insider, reveals how Bayern Munich nearly pulled off the sensational capture of Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal in 2022. Club executives Hasan Salihamidžić and Marco Neppe even met with agent Ivan de la Peña to discuss the prospect of bringing the young wonderkid to Bavaria.
According to the source, negotiations were progressing smoothly and Bayern were already planning to meet Yamal's family to convince them of the club's genuine interest. But suddenly, the situation took an unexpected turn: Yamal himself decided to change his agent. That move brought influential representative Jorge Mendes into the picture, who took the young star under his wing and made it clear to Bayern that a transfer would only be possible if several million euros were paid as compensation to the family.
In the end, Bayern weren't prepared to take such a gamble on such a young player. Time proved costly: Lamine Yamal soon broke into Barcelona's first team, became a Spanish champion, and by age 16 had signed a contract with a €1 billion release clause. Now, a move to another club is almost out of the question, and those in Munich can only regret the deal that slipped through their fingers.
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Volodymyr Varukha
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