A buyout clause, in a simple language, is the valuation made by a football club on her players. Once a purchasing club offers an amount that surpasses the buyout clause, it is mandatory for the selling club to reach an agreement, and thus the player is free to join the offeror.
Without hesitation, below are the top 5 players with the highest buyout clause in the world:
5. Lionel Messi – €700million ($789million)
Club: Barcelona| Country: Argentina | Position: Forward | Age: 32
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly one of the best players ever in the world of football having claimed legions of awards, including FIFA World Player of the Year, IFFHS World’s Top Goal Scorer, FIFPro World Young Player of the Year, LFP Best Player, to mention but a few.
The 5-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner and world’s highest-earning footballer has a whopping release clause of €700million, and there is a high tendency that the legend may end his football career at the Camp Nou.
That being said, other players with Messi’s buyout clause include Vinicius Junior, Isco and Marco Asensio, all from Spanish side – Real Madrid.
4. Brahim Diaz – €750million ($845million)
Club: Real Madrid | Country: Spain | Position: Attacking Midfield (Left) | Age: 19
This is the youngest footballer on this list. The 19-year-old star joined Real Madrid from Manchester City earlier in 2019, and the deal is expected to last till 2025.
Being one of the most sought-after youngsters, do you think Brahim Diaz will prove that he’s worth his current release clause [€750M] at Bernabéu? Only time will tell!
3. Luka Modric – €750million ($845million)
Club: Real Madrid | Country: Croatia | Position: Midfield| Age: 33
Luka Modric, the current Ballon d’Or winner, is yet another top player with a huge release clause. The Croatian midfielder has a buyout clause of €750M, although it would be very rare for a football club to pay such enormous amount, especially when considering the fact that the Croatian performed averagely in the recently-concluded season.
2. Antoine Griezmann – €800million ($902million)
Club: Barcelona | Country: France | Position: Forward | Age: 28
Antoine Griezmann after joining Barcelona from Atlético Madrid in July 2019 became the second player with the highest buyout clause [€800million] with only Madrid forward, Karim Benzema ahead of him.
This was purposely done to discourage other top football clubs from hunting the French player in the long run.
Do you think Griezmann can deliver as expected? Next season is just around the corner!
1. Karim Benzema – €1billion ($1.12billion)
Surprisingly, the player with the highest buyout clause is non other than Karim Benzema.
The Real Madrid and French forward have a whopping release clause of £1bn, which could scare away a lot of potential buyers, including the giant clubs.
However, it is worthy to note that Cristiano Ronaldo also had the same buyout clause [£1bn] not until it was later reduced in 2018 when he decided to join Juventus.
On the other hand, Karim Benzema may also suffer the same fate if he decides to leave Madrid, considering the fact that age is not really on his side again.
OTHER PLAYERS WITH HIGH RELEASE CLAUSE WORTH MENTIONING
Gerard Pique (Barcelona) , Sergi Roberto (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid –€500million ($564million)
Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Arthur (Barcelona) and Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona) –€400million ($451million)
