Just how much would it cost you to buy Barcelona’s lethal attacking trio more popularly known as MSN? Just a shade under a three-quarter billion Euros. Unless you are a wealthy football club owner who is still drawing up plans to rob a Swiss bank, you can forget about it signing even one La Liga star, let alone all three.
Release clauses are part and parcel of player contracts in football these days. And the so-called worth of a player has reached astronomical heights in recent years after the money started pouring into the game. With commercial sponsorship deals allowing clubs to spend more money than ever before, clubs are doing everything they can to ensure their players are not prised away by the lure of big money?
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So how do you combat massive transfer bids? Make the player’s worth so far out of reach that no club would think twice about submitting a bid unless they were really desperate to throw money.
Which is why star players at the biggest clubs are never sold unless the club is ready to let them go. They do whatever they can to ensure the players are happy at their club and insert release clauses that are usually five to ten times their market value – except in the odd case such as Ballon d’Or winners or finalists.
11 Barcelona players have release clauses upward of €100m
It comes as no surprise that Lionel Messi has the biggest release clause at Barcelona with a whopping €250m. The Argentine forward has won the Ballon d’Or five times and is undoubtedly their biggest asset (well, living asset if you bring the Camp Nou into the picture).
He was the most expensive player until recently when Neymar joined the 250-club himself. The Brazilian’s release clause has increased from €200m to €250m in recent years and the Catalan club plan to build the team for the future with him as their key player. He is only 24 after all.
Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets are the only other players who are worth at least €200m but Busquets currently has a longer contract than the Uruguayan striker. In all, 11 players have a release clause set at €100m or more.
To put things in perspective, Manchester United’s world record fee for Paul Pogba could amount to around €110m. However, Barcelona’s stars have nothing on Cristiano Ronaldo whose release clause, according to agent Jorge Mendes, was €1 billion!
| # | Player | Release Clause | Contract Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | €250m | 2018 |
| Neymar | €250m | 2021 | |
| 3 | Luis Suarez | €200m | 2019 |
| Sergio Busquets | €200m | 2021 | |
| 5 | Gerard Pique | €162m | 2018 |
| 6 | Andres Iniesta | €157m | 2018 |
| 7 | Jordi Alba | €150m | 2020 |
| 8 | Ivan Rakitic | €100m | 2019 |
| Paco Alcacer | €100m | 2021 | |
| Javier Mascherano | €100m | 2018 | |
| Andre Gomes | €100m | 2021 | |
| 12 | Marc-Andre Ter Stegen | €80m | 2019 |
| 13 | Arda Turan | €76m | 2019 |
| 14 | Rafinha | €75m | 2021 |
| 15 | Jasper Cillessen | €60m | 2021 |
| Aleix Vidal | €60m | 2020 | |
| Lucas Digne | €60m | 2021 | |
| Samuel Umtiti | €60m | 2021 | |
| 19 | Jeremy Mathieu | €50m | 2018 |
| Denis Suarez | €50m | 2020 | |
| Sergi Samper | €50m | 2019 | |
| 22 | Jordi Masip | €35m | 2017 |
| 23 | Sergi Roberto | €30m | 2019 |
Data from Squawka
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