Benzema, Haaland and the players who have a clause in their contract
It is not always possible for football players to get the transfer they want if they do not have a release clause.
This is the case of Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane. Kane wants to join Manchester City in 2021, but his current club Tottenham have moved on. With no buyout clause, the England striker struggled to accept his move and a year later Pep Guardiola’s men signed Erling Haaland.
Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Sporting Lisbon were among the clubs that failed to pry the player away from Old Trafford, which has no exit clause in Cr7’s contract, prompting Ronaldo to burn his bridges in an explosive interview and to terminate his contract with United.
Increasingly, big-name players are negotiating minimum-fee exit clauses in the contracts they sign with clubs, and ensuring they are set at realistic levels.
The fashionable release clause
Such a measure ensures that if a team trying to buy a player pays the required transfer fee – which in some cases can only be triggered from a certain date – that offer will automatically be accepted, and then can begin to negotiate personal terms.
This is a move that often appeals to young players. They can, for example, join a top division club and hope to gain, if they perform well, a move to bigger teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd.
However, their current clubs may be reluctant to sell a star player and try to deter such top teams by pricing them high.
In the Premier League in particular, many clubs, even in the middle or bottom of the table, have considerable financial muscle to hold themselves should a top team emerge, so a buyout clause can be a powerful tool. .
However, buyout clauses are not limited to upcoming players.
Haaland and his agents have negotiated a buyout clause even after joining Man City in 2022.
In a move that will encourage Madrid to sign him, Haaland has a release clause that takes effect in the summer of 2024 and is worth €200m.
The Norwegian superstar has a second release clause at the lowest price that will be activated in the summer of 2025 and will reach 175 million euros.
City will not be able to prevent Haaland’s departure if he receives a transfer offer for these amounts from the dates specified, but they cannot complain too much – he only paid 60 million euros after also meeting a release clause in his contract with Borussia Dortmund that was activated at the end of last season.
In some leagues, such as La Liga, rules and tradition dictate that every player has a release clause included in his contract. In some cases, clubs have set extremely high terms to deter potential buyers.
La Liga clubs have been using them for a long time
At FC Barcelona, Lionel Messi received a contract in 2009 that included a buyout clause of 250 million euros, an amount considered at the time inaccessible.
This amount was later increased to an impressive €700m when he signed another one of his new contracts at Camp Nou in 2017. PSG then paid €222m to meet Neymar’s release clause. , an amount also considered too high to pay.
Recently, Madrid and Barça even started to put several release clauses in the incredible amount of one billion euros! The Catalans have had seven players receive these astronomical accolades, the latest being young midfielder Gavi.
Clubs often try to prevent these clauses from being included in a contract.
Last summer, RB Leipzig made a breakthrough when they tied down their star player Christopher Nkunku to a new contract that did not contain the €60m buyout clause that the player had originally requested.
Here is a list of some of the most famous players in world football who are said to have a release clause in their contract.
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