Barcelona have inserted release clauses totalling €1billion (£860million) into the contracts of new signings Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie – two deals that have been in place since March.
Both players have arrived at the Camp Nou as free agents following the expiration of their deals at Chelsea and AC Milan respectively, with each having a €500million (£430million) release clause inserted into their fresh terms. It is a mechanism prompted by Spanish football authorities for such clauses to be inserted into player contracts.
The most high-profile example of a release clause becoming influential was when Barca were forced into allowing Neymar to leave in 2017 for a world-record transfer fee of €222million (£198million). That clause had been set in the Brazilian’s contract and it was viewed as being prohibitive to any move, yet Paris Saint-Germain stumping up the cash left the Catalan club powerless.
