There are cases like Arsenal paying the release clause for Partey at the last day of transfer window (to the surprise of Atletico as they claimed), so not every club is prepared to find a replacement beforehand or right afterwards.

If I ever moved to a smaller club I would want a release clause. Clubs are holding players for ransom. Pricing them out of moves. That's why they are all running down their contracts.

Another benefit of release clauses is that it might convince the player to sign in the first place. Dortmund might not have gotten Haaland in the first place if weren't for that release clause.

Certain clubs, like Leicester, Lyon, and Dortmund, who often buy younger prospect players for cheap, have little to gain from release clauses for these players. Take for example the release clause of N’Golo Kante, where Chelsea swooped in and purchased him for around £30m. Values of young or breakout players can fluctuate wildly, leaving release clauses harmful as opposed to helpful for the club.

You often see people mock the 100m spent on Grealish but the fact it was a release clause gives it new context. City have bottomless pits of money but time is something they don't have during a window so paying 100m to just get it over and done was probably deemed worth it for them. The Demba Ba situation was an annoying one for my team Newcastle. He picked us over West Ham because we paid his agent more money and gave him an 8m release clause. He smashed in a load of goals and then buggered off to Chelsea, can't blame him and we wouldn't have got him without giving him the release clause so all is fair in love and war.

Imagine if Kane had a release clause, he’d be leading the line for either City or United. 😅

The financial certainty of knowing exactly how much profit you’ll make on an investment and when you’ll make that profit surely helps teams like Dortmund too, and that means they’re comfortable rejecting more money for offers before their release clause becomes active (see Sancho). Works for them too, maybe Haaland’s was set a bit low but someone like Bellingham having a supposed €100m release clause probably seems about right and nets them €75m profit (minus the sell on fee that goes to Birmingham)

if the release clause is a realistic number (e.g. Upamecano's 42.5mil) it's also a direct negotiation strategy with the player - if your prospective new employers aren't willing to pay this realistic figure, then they don't really value you much anyway, so why don't you just stay here until someone else does?

Great video on a interesting subject. Another benefit is that minor clubs can get talented footballers who need a stepping stone and therefore held the club forward, while the player know it's possible to move up the ladder.

The problem with release clause is that a poor club has less chances of keeping talent despite having a good project. The most infamous case was Rivaldo from Deportivo to Barça. The last day that you could inscribe players for Champions League, Barça snatched him, leaving Deportivo (title contenders back then) without his best player and in the same situation that Barça was left after the Neymar transfer to PSG, with all other clubs asking insane amounts, but Deportivo had even less time to scout (2 weeks i believe) and even if they got a quality replacement for Rivaldo, they couldn't use him in Europe

helps the buying clubs too. clubs like Leicester and West Ham have a habit of doubling the actual value of players (Maguire, Chilwell, Fofana, Rice etc)

Great content as usual! You guys explore topics I didn't even know I wanted to know.

Another knowledge filled video from the enigma of football journalism. Thanks Tifo

Clubs can probably put another clause like "The release clause can only be activated X days before the window closes", so as to have sufficient time to find replacements.

Calling Dortmund a lesser club than Manchester United is insulting. Once upon a time yes, but definetly not for the last 5 years.

Best way to kick off my morning with a Tifo video.

Clubs like Ajax and Dortmund deserves some respect for producing the generational talents frequently ❤️

My favourite video yet! Which the premier would bring this in!

Thank you Seb for an informative video.

Another good example of Release Clauses is it helps generate funds for small clubs Eduardo Camavinga was scouted by Real Madrid...after the non arrival of Mbappe,they wanted to pursue Camavinga.....he had one year of the contract left....Madrid had one thought of buying him next year but it was Camavinga, his agents and Club Rennes who thought about leaving a year early in the contract so that the selling club Rennes could be in profit.... Perez had no hesitation in paying 30 million and few bonus....

I always wondered how transparent release clauses are. Can a club make an inquiry about the release clause of any player at any time?

Release clauses are a double edged sword. On one hand it helps clubs generate funds to improve the club structure and on the other hand once it expires or a player has less than a year left clubs don't have to pay the release clause to sign a player that they want. In Spain release clauses are mandatory. In England, Germany and Italy some clubs uses release clauses however in France, release clauses are outlawed. In other words, banned.

It's interesting to see how the club finances work in FIFA in regards to the transferring of players. In order to remain on top of the competition it looks like you need to have years of roster construction planned ahead even if you are one of the massive clubs.

in fm, i hate to start from smaller team in laliga. The wonderkid will wanted smaller release clause and before the season end, they were gone.

The release clauses seem to me a good thing just as long as they are reasonable, Haaland used his decision to choose Dortmund to get them to agree to a very low price. On the other hand Grealish's price was ott, I doubt anyone but man city would have even gone near such a fee.

I think we could say it is most definitely a good thing if: - It only applied for buying clubs whose own players all had release clauses (to stop imbalances). - It needed a 4 week notice period to allow selling clubs time to recruit a new squad member. - The amount could be no more than 10% higher than the highest clause previously activated for a player of that position (to stop tokenism). It seems unfair that City could trigger Haalands clause easily enough, but if Dortmund could never do the reverse if the player wanted to go back

I love how he said "clearly a level below other interested parties, amongst them Man United" 😂

Release clauses can really help set a value I'd imagine. If Man City offered 80 mil for Grealish and he had no release clause and Man City played hardball I think Grealish would probably have left for that amount of money

I hadn't really thought about it like this tbh. I focused on the 1bn clauses in Spain that may as well not exist cause they are so high.

Yes great vid

My favorite channel by far. Always smarter after watching.

I know I am late but I have some questions about all of this: - What happens if a player, who still on contract, just stops playing? Is the club contractually obligated to pay the remainder of his fees? In the case of Neymar and Barcelona, if he wanted to leave then surely the value of the clause wouldn’t matter. In the case of the billion dollar clauses at RM/Barca, aren’t the clubs effectively imprisoning the players within? Sure if the players really wanted to stay at the club then even a 10 million dollar release clause would mean nothing?

Transfer clauses can be a good thing when they're not abused but like with haaland BvB got 1/3 of the value he's worth but Mino Riola knew that when demanding the price because it would increase wage demands and sign on bonuses/fees when Man City activated it or like the 1billion clauses in Spain making it useless and defunct

True but I think you're being incredibly optimistic about clubs replacing those leaving on release clauses. If EVERYONE had a release clause yes they could be proactive about one leaving and replace them if the clause is activated. But they're not, and negotiations can take forever so in reality it's just leaving themselves wide open to have a huge hole on their team that they can never replace in a season no matter how much they pre plan for it.

Can two teams compete to activate a player's release clause? Or is it a first come first served??

great work 💪👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😍

It’s odd that the release clause isn’t determined by the wage and the length of contract.

Was wondering, what would happen if multiple clubs activate the release clause of a player? Would it then depend on the player where they want to go or the selling club or both?

What happend to Enzo is also a bad example of how release clauses can be exploited. They told the player they would activate the release clause to get him hyped on the transfer and then they lowballed Benfica. That created a very tense enviroment between the club and the player since it was public his urge to sign for Chelsea and he even started missing out on training and stopped following some of the Benfica rules.

One other part - a release clause has to be paid in full, rather than installment plans over time. This does give selling clubs some leeway to get more - Man City doesn't want to pay 60mn up front for Haaland, okay we'll take 20 up front and 60 in installments.

I agree, release clauses are great for clubs and players, but dortmund set it way too low with Haaland. I can’t imagine a reason why City, or any other Club of that size, would not have paid 75-85 million for him.

Release clauses or even transfers should be based on a rating score ( all by data) based on the players last year(s) long side other players in that position. Also to note, Kevin De Bruyne when resigning a new contract with Man city didn't have, nor go in with an agent, instead he went in with a laptop and data based on his performance with his playing history on the team + what other players making more than him results ( goals / assists / balls played forward and tons of other 'moneyball' data statistics... Essentially, the man city higher ups saw the value he brings to the success of their team and paid what he was asking.

Nice music,where can get athletic team

whats the lofi song at the beginning called?

no disrespect to the other narrators on this channel but you sir is why i come here lol

Clubs should have to pay a % of their release clause each year into the national football'ing association to help support grassroots football. That way a crazy billion dollar 💵 release clause costs $200k each year let's say!

Tifo is like a university/manual for football fans😊

Is it like football manager where you pay the full amount in cash to meet the release clause.or can you meet the release clause With a mixture of cash up front and payments spread over years?

What if the bigger club doesn’t want to pay the clause? It can force a club to loose a player on the last day or be forced to sell it for less. Release clauses are good for bigger teams and players but to the majority of the clubs and fans its just a bummer

That bit on the Foden transfer, I'm suddenly having "Moneyball" flashbacks. XD

Not all players in La Liga have release clauses at all. Athletic Club have made it clear some of theirs do not, like Unai Núñez and Unai Simón.

Well take partey there Arsenal went and buy him last hours of the transfer window because A Madrid didt want to lower there valuation and could not replace him. It offcourse depend on the clubs to like Ajax are selling players if the right price is met (without release clease) It is altso different from top club and sub top clubs how they operate.

You guys should do a video on the Arsenal, Suarez fiasco

The nature of release clauses in the context of La Liga, where they're compelled to give every player registered a release clause, then comes into question - whether it's treated as a means to plan for the future generations before the present ones end, or treated as a formality, like with exaggerated release clauses as a show of intent that the club does not actually want to sell the player unless they are offered a fee that suits their needs when proposed.

Lots of Burnley players have been signed to clubs that are still in the Premier league, so is it likely there were relagation triggered release clauses for those players at Burnley?

Now this is content.

Does anyone know why La Liga make their teams including release clause? When a team can set them at ridiculous prices (Benzema, €1 Billion) then they become redundant anyway.

this is fundamental knowledge, not only in football, but its very present in football manager aswell.

Name of the background song?

Several scenarios not adresse. Last minut activations or forcing clubs to sign in release clauses with contract extentions. "Lose me free or lose me cheap".

i have a question is it possible to negotiate a deal and avoid paying the release clause? like for example if psg decided that neymar wasnt worth the 220 mil release clause could theyve just negotiated with barca a 150 mil deal?

Enjoyed the video, just thought I could add something. @4:09 you used spring instead of the actual month. Please note that the time of spring varies depending on which hemisphere you live in. Just like when it's winter there, it's actually summer for those living in the southern hemisphere. For me ( someone living in the southern hemisphere) we don't have spring until around September. So saying Konate was going to leave in May, but the club started scouting in spring, sounds late to me. Sounds like you are saying they started scouting months after he left, around September to be precise. It's good that you provided a visual timeline, but it was kinda confusing for a second. Awesome video though 👌

Some release clauses may seem stupid after the fact but clubs are not that stupid to set a low release clause for their players when the contracts are signed. The players (or the market) just overperformed beyond expectations!

I think it's a real benefit to the player as the video pointed out! If Harry Kane had one he would not be a Spurs player today...

I still remember the Arsenal bid of 40mil + 1 (forgot the currency) for Suarez. That was funny lol

Don't forget that Haaland left Salzburg for only 20m EUR because of a release clause as well, otherwise Salzburg would probably have been able to ask 40m or even more for him. Haaland does not sign a contract without a realistic release clause present, he would not join that club otherwise. I don't know if he has one in his ManCity contract as well, but that was a requirement when he signed for Salzburg and later on Dortmund as well.

It would be really nice to find all the people making fun of Wenger for his bid on Suarez. At the time I felt like I was speaking Martian while trying to explain why the offer wasn't about Arsenal being cheap but in fact the offer they needed to make to activate the clause. Just because he didn't agree personal terms with Arsenal didn't mean the offer was the culprit. Crazy that it lived on as a meme for nearly a decade

Has there ever been a release clause activated on the final days of a transfer window? That’s the one way I can see a release clause being detrimental if the buying club activates it giving the selling club little to no time to find replacements

Trying to get into FIFA 18. I'm here to get a tutorial on release clauses

And then is Benfica's case. Our former president puts astronomic releases clauses in our players swearing that the players only leave on that fee. Off course almost every single player was sold for less than the release clause and made him looked pathetic. Sometimes were clubs crazy enough to pay it and that's the case of João Félix who never worth 125M. It's quite usually with other presidents too here in Portugal.

If selling club and the certain player can come to an agreement with the amount of release clause then i don't see any problem. Release clause is like black and white

Watching this after the Kane transfer was confirmed makes 5:55 so funny. 😅

Do sell on clause

You don’t even discuss the point that release clauses can be a negotiation tactic for clubs to reduce wage demands. It’s common in Germany for players to have this. The player knows if they perform they can get a better move and therefore sacrifice lower wages to have a lower release clause.

i always wondered why only barcelona uses release clause

Please Make a video about Elon & United.

It doesn't stop transfer sagas and back and forths at all. Players can still be a wantaway if the buying club isn't willing to meet the release clause - they aren't a MINIMUM price after all, they are a 'buy now, skip negotiations' price. If a release clause it set at say 80million, but the player is in all fairness worth about 40million - the buying club ISN'T going to pay the release clause, but they can still really want the player, the player can still really want to leave, and selling club can still really want them to stay. So you'd still have the whole saga as if the release clause didn't exist. They are literally never good ON THE WHOLE for selling clubs - yes there are aspects that are good and LESSEN the downsides of there being one, but it's still a terrible thing to agree to as a club (unless it is so ridiculously high it may as well not exist). If a player is worth LESS than the release clause - it doesn't matter, it may as well not exist, no buying club will pay it, so they just put in normal transfer offers and rely upon the selling club being willing to sell or the player/players agent forcing a move away. If a player is worth MORE than the release clause - self evidently a bad thing, as they are forced to sell a player for less than they could otherwise had gotten (and who they may have wanted to keep) If a player is worth about the SAME as the release clause - if the club are fine with selling the player, it may as well not exist, as that's what you'd get anyway (though it could make the sale go quicker), but if the club DOESN'T want to sell, than again, bad thing, as they are forced to sell a player that they want to keep (though at least it's not as bad as above as at least they are getting a fair value AT THE TIME - after all player value may go up or down in a year). Honestly the ONLY reason a club should ever agree to a release clause (that isn't so ridiculously high it may as well not exist) is if they literally couldn't get the player otherwise. i.e. Dortmund may have been forced to sell Haaland for MUCH less than he was worth but at least they had him for two years and made a profit. If they said no he would have just gone elsewhere. It wasn't something that was good for them or that they wanted, but they HAD to take it to get him.

1:40 not so sure about that 😅

Could FIFA make release clauses mandatory? Set them at, for instance, 2 or 3 times the total value of the contract signed.

imo these are only good if it is mandatory for both teams. which means a club cannot sell the player for cheaper than the clause. so a club isn't forced to sell for under value

When Arsenal offered 40.000.001 for Suarez, was that not a release clause? Because Liverpool rejected it immediately.

Lovely video but this was not the case with Barca when Neymar left for PSG

I have no idea how you made a video about release clauses without mentioning the Neymar release clause saga

Are transfer fees - taxable? Does a club pay corporate income tax on a transfer fee they receive for a player?

Can't you have a release clause for certain clubs i.e clubs that play CL football?

I don’t get it. Without release clauses how can a player like not play anymore if they don’t want to, essentially a release clause is the only way to terminate a contract? Are contracts not based in years, like in other sports?

The downsize of having release clauses (that is not mentioned in this video) is selling clubs not being able to include sell-on clauses in the sale. Sell-on clauses are strongly beneficial to selling clubs, and can amount to much bigger sums of money than the money they would be getting initially instead of such clauses.

I remember Wenger tried to activate Luis Suarez clause for 40M+1 pound 😂 but I dont understand how the transfer didn't go 🤔

Release clauses are the best thing ever in FIFA. Whatever your budget, you can always go shopping. Especially in Spain!

Ironically, it is the poster boy of the release clause, Neymar, that caused havoc at Barcelona, though that's really just Bartomeu.

This is how the move of Neymar went... PSG didnt buy him from Barcelona... Neymar bought off his own contract Tifo. Neymar received 300mil from a Qatar fund and he bought off his own contract and after that he joined PSG for free... 222mil for buying of his own contract and the rest for signing bonus and agent fees... Why do you guys think PSG was allowed to get Mbappe too? Because they didnt pay a dime (officially) for Neymar.

It's also good for the player. Because Manchester City has bought him for such a low price his wage demands can be much higher. Haaland is already the 2nd highester earner in City, with 425k/week.

Leipzig has some amazing scouts

I think the ultimate point is, why do we care about the selling clubs? This should be a standard because people should have the right to maximise their opportunities, in any career.

FIFA Career mode: " the players release clause has been met" Me: ok il do some scouting then FIFA career mode: " he's already left the same day I told you about it.

It is sad, to me how there are "selling clubs". Clubs whose whole existence is to nurture and then sell players for infinity and beyond since there is no hope for competition in their respective league until the lucky stars align. At that point, I would very much rather have a super league if it means the competitiveness of football as a whole goes up a notch.

'Lovely friendly nice bank' that somehow seems more sinister than just calling them 'bank of evil'.

So Liverpool shafted us on Suarez, when wenger triggered his release clause?

ok, but right at the top you mentioned they were obligatory in La Liga - and it's clearly being abused there.. making all the points you make somewhat redundant? At least for the top players?

Release clauses are good only for the rich clubs. For a club like Borussia Dortmund, it means they are not able to keep any player in order to win something, hence Bayern won everything for 10 years. Release clauses make all clubs feeder clubs to oil tankers and american/russian oligarchs for cheap. Ask City oil tanker how much is Haaland now? Will they sell him for 200 mil consider they bought him for 60 a few months ago? I don't think so.