Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal set to buy €14m mansion once shared by Gerard Pique & pop sensation Shakira

According to Spanish publication El Pais, Yamal is interested in buying the house that Pique and Shakira lived in during their high-profile relationship, meeting in 2010 and announcing their separation 12 years later, in 2022. The property in question was built in 2012 and the site sprawls 3,800 square metres including three houses – a main residence and two other dwellings, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a tennis court, gym, multiple terraces and even a recording studio.

It is reported that the original asking price for the whole property (all three houses) was €14 million (£12/$16m) when it was first listed in 2022 when Pique and Shakira decided to call it a day. The site has stayed on the market since, although €3m is said to have been slashed from the price tag after one of the secondary residences was sold off separately. That leaves an €11m price tag for the two remaining homes, boasting privacy and spread over six bedrooms and five bathrooms, which Yamal is alleged to be willing to part with to buy it up. However, the teenage superstar has his own tastes and specific requirements, which means he is also expected to spend a significant sum on top in renovation costs to tailor everything to those needs.

Not many people could afford to spend €11m, plus renovation costs, on a property, but Yamal is in the privileged position that his generational talent for football delivers a huge financial upside. The new six-year contract he signed in May, replacing a former deal that was due to expire in 2026, came with a salary reported to be as high as €30m (£26m/€35m) per season. The winger was just 17 at the time it was announced, but could bank up to €180m (£157m/$209m) over the course of the deal.

But as is always the case with the world’s best footballers, Yamal won't just earn money from kicking a ball around some grass. His marketability and commercial contracts means that Forbes has estimated his overall yearly earnings could climb to $43m (£32m). That will break the top 10 of the sport's highest-paid players for the first time, a list which also includes the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow young superstar Jude Bellingham.

Yamal is reported to have previously bought homes for his mother, father and grandmother, with taking care of his family a particularly important aspect of his life now that he has come into generational and life-altering wealth.

The youngster has also been quoted in the past as stating that he lives with his mother. Whether he would have close family members move onto his new property, especially if it comes with two homes, remains to be seen now that he is legally an adult, but feels highly plausible.

Yamal is also in a relationship with 25-year-old Argentine musician Nicki Nicole, who said recently she is "very in love". Ironically, were she to move in, the relationship between a Barcelona player and an older music star from South America mimics the previous inhabitants of the mansion – Colombian singer Shakira is a full 10 years older than Pique.

As long as he continues to perform on the pitch at the level he has since bursting onto the scene at the age of 15, enormous riches will come to Yamal naturally. Given his age, room for improvement and the increasing amounts of money flowing into elite football, the youngster could feasibly become a billionaire long before his playing career is over. If he has that much money behind him, laying down €11m on a couple of houses will eventually be considered just a drop in the ocean.