Barcelona have reportedly been left "very upset" by Manchester City's pursuit of teenage stars including Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde during the summer transfer window.
Yamal became the youngest player to represent Barca's senior side at the age of just 15 and nine months when head coach Xavi handed the winger his debut in a 4-0 win over Real Betis in La Liga in April.
The Spanish starlet has since featured in each of Barca's opening four top-flight matches this season, starting three of those, and he provided two assists in a man-of-the-match display in a thrilling 4-3 victory over Villarreal last month.
Yamal has been rewarded for his rapid rise at senior level by receiving his first call-up to the Spain national team by manager Luis de la Fuente for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Cyprus.
Barca teammate Balde has also been called up to the Spain squad for this month's international break, with the left-back having already received five caps for the senior team.
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The 19-year-old made his Barcelona debut in September 2021 and has since made over 50 appearances under Xavi, including 30 La Liga starts last season.
Balde has featured twice for Barca in the new campaign and is regarded as the heir to long-serving left-back Jordi Alba, who left Camp Nou earlier this summer to join Inter Miami.
Both Balde and Yamal have entered the final year of their contracts at Barcelona, and that seemingly alerted treble winners Man City during the summer transfer window, as Marca claims that the Citizens tried to lure the teenage duo, as well as 16-year-old Pau Cubarsi, to the Etihad Stadium.
The report states that several members of Barca's hierarchy, including president Joan Laporta were left "very upset" with Man City after the summer transfer market closed following their attempts to sign the young trio.
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Barcelona are said to have been "bothered" by "some attitudes and comments" that have come from Man City, while a "strained" relationship was developed between the two clubs back in January when the Citizens allegedly refused to allow Joao Cancelo to join Barca in January – the full-back has since completed a season-long loan move to the Catalan giants for the 2023-24 campaign.
In addition, Marca refers to rumours suggesting that a condition for Man City to agree to loan Cancelo to Barca was for former defender Eric Garcia to join sister club Girona on a temporary basis, but is it claimed that Xavi's side were already looking to offload the Spaniard in order to register new signing Inigo Martinez.
The La Liga champions also attempted to sign Bernardo Silva from Man City this summer, with the playmaker expressing his desire to seek pastures new, but Pep Guardiola's side were allegedly unwilling to let the Portuguese move to Camp Nou.
Bernardo has since put pen to paper on a new three-year contract with the Citizens and it remains to be seen whether Barca will look to reignite their interest in the playmaker in future transfer windows.
Oliver Thomas
