ARSENAL are set to meet Atletico Madrid’s release clause to sign Thomas Partey from the Spanish capital.
After months of deliberation, the Gunners are finally set to meet Atleti’s figure for the defensive midfielder, continuing a trend of English clubs buying for a set fee from Spanish clubs.
Thomas Partey is set to join Arsenal after they met his release clauseCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Chelsea have met Kepa’s £71m release clause with Athletic BilbaoCredit: AFP – Getty
Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga through a similar loophole.
And as with Neymar’s £200m move to PSG in 2017, the transfer came about stopper’s £71m release clause being met.
What is a release clause?
A release clause is a set fee that a buying club can pay a selling club in order to contractually oblige them to offload a player.
The highest release clauses in the world belong to Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (£1bn each).
That’s followed by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Isco and Marco Asensio (both £700m).
Why do LaLiga clubs have release clauses and are they compulsory?
Release clauses in Spain stem from Royal Decree 1006, which was passed in 1985 and gives footballers in Spain the same rights as all other employees.
They allow players to buy out their contracts and leave their club for an agreed fee, which should be proportionate to their wages.
Release clauses are not compulsory but are almost universally applied because players without one would be able to go to court to buy themselves out of their contract.
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That would create uncertainty for all parties and therefore, both players and clubs are keen to agree release clauses in advance.
Does the Premier League have release clauses?
Release clauses can be applied in the Premier League but only with the agreement of players and clubs.
But British law does not currently allow players to buy themselves out of their contracts, therefore clubs are keen to avoid inserting them into deals.
Players in the UK can typically only leave without their club’s consent once their contract expires, when they can go for a free.
But some players are believed to have moved club as a result of a release clause, such as Demba Ba to Chelsea from Newcastle for £7m and Joe Allen to Liverpool from Swansea for £15m.
In 2013, Arsenal met Luis Suarez’s release clause with Liverpool, offering £40 million plus one pound, but the club opted not to sell regardless.
Reds Owner John Henry said: “And he had a buy-out clause – I don’t know what degree I should go into this – but he had a buy-out clause of £40million – more than 60 million (US) dollars.
“So Arsenal, one of our prime rivals this year… they offered £40million and one pound for him and triggered his buy-out clause.
“But what we’ve found over the years is that contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England – actually not in England, in world football.
“It doesn’t matter how long a player’s contract is, he can decide he’s leaving.”
Is new Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga good enough to replace Thibaut Courtois?
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
