Barcelona opened their La Liga season with a routine 5-0 rout of Elche on August 23, but the image that lingered afterwards had nothing to do with the scoreline. Lamine Yamal, substituted in the second half, sat on the bench with tears in his eyes while teammates, Raphinha among them, moved to console him.

The footage spread quickly across Spanish football media, and by the following night's edition of El Chiringuito the panel was trying to explain it. According to ONE's report on the show, host Josep Pedrerol said club representatives intend to ask Yamal directly whether everything is alright, describing the images as concerning enough to warrant a conversation.

It was panelist Giota Jordi who offered the explanation that stuck: this is not about Yamal's form, his contract or his personal life, but about friendship. "He's a 19-year-old kid, and his three closest friends are leaving," Jordi said on air, according to the report, naming Alejandro Balde, Marc Casadó and Héctor Fort as the players in question.

The timing lines up. All three were left out of Hansi Flick's squad for the Elche match, with Balde's effective exit from the group emerging roughly a day before kick-off, as Barcelona pushes to raise close to €100 million from player sales before the transfer window closes on September 1.

Balde, Casadó and Fort came through La Masia alongside Yamal and have known him since childhood; Spanish outlets have reported Balde has now decided to seek an immediate move away, with agent Jorge Mendes working to find him a new club and Manchester United among those linked, while Casadó and Fort have already been training apart from the first-team group.

Neither Yamal nor Barcelona has issued any official comment on the reason for his reaction, and other Spanish reports have floated alternative theories, including simple frustration at being substituted. The friends'-exodus explanation remains a television panel's reading of the situation rather than a confirmed statement from the player himself.

On the pitch, Yamal's early-season form has not been in question — he has continued to be a central figure for Flick's side as they chase a third straight La Liga title. What has changed, according to this account, is the dressing room around him, with the group he grew up with inside the club rapidly being broken up in the final days of the market.