The €1 Billion Release Clause Club: Football’s Highest Buyout Clauses in 2026/27

Short answer: The highest reported release clauses in football are €1,000,000,000, reported for eight players at Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, including Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham. Spanish law lets a player end his contract by paying the agreed compensation. The largest clause ever paid is Neymar’s €222 million in 2017.

In August 2017, Neymar’s representatives took a payment of €222 million to La Liga’s offices in Madrid to buy out his Barcelona contract. La Liga refused the deposit, so the money was paid at Barcelona’s offices in the player’s name, and Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain. Until then, a €222 million buyout had looked like a number no club would ever pay.

It wasn’t.

Since then, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have written far higher clauses into their stars’ contracts. With wealthy owners entering the transfer market—as detailed in our guide to the top 10 richest football club owners—a clause of €300 million or €400 million no longer looks out of reach.

The result is what we call The €1 Billion Buyout Club.

Below are the players with reported €1 billion release clauses in 2026/27, how a clause is triggered under Spanish law, and why such clauses are rare in the Premier League.

Which players have reported €1 billion release clauses in 2026/27?

The table lists eight players whose €1 billion release clauses have been reported, with their club and contract expiry. All eight clauses are the same size, so the order is not a ranking. Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Jules Koundé were also listed with €1 billion clauses as of April 2025. We could not confirm reported €1 billion figures for Federico Valverde or Ronald Araújo, who is on a season-long loan at Liverpool.

Why Do Spanish Contracts Have Release Clauses?

Fans in England and Germany frequently wonder: “Why doesn’t Arsenal put a €1 billion clause on Bukayo Saka, or Manchester City on Erling Haaland?”

The answer lies in Spanish employment law rather than in club policy.

Under Real Decreto 1006/1985 of 26 June 1985, which governs the employment of professional athletes in Spain, a player can end his contract early, and his club is then entitled to compensation. Article 16.1 says the amount is whatever the two sides agreed; if there is no agreement, the labour courts set it, taking into account the sporting circumstances, the harm caused to the club and the reasons for the break.

Because a player can always leave on paying compensation, Spanish clubs fix the figure in the contract rather than leave it to a court, and the biggest clubs set it so high that it is very unlikely to be paid.

How does triggering a release clause work?

A buyout is not a normal transfer fee wired from one club to another.

Legally, it is the player ending his own contract. In outline:

1. The Buying Club Advances the Money to the Player: The signing club does not pay the selling club directly; it advances the amount to the player.
2. The Player Pays Through La Liga: The player, usually through his lawyers, pays the clause to his club via the league.
3. The Contract Ends: Once the payment is made, the contract is terminated and the player is free to join his new club. In Neymar’s case La Liga refused the deposit, and his representatives paid Barcelona directly at the club’s offices.

Originally, the Spanish tax authorities treated the money advanced to the player as his taxable income, so the buying club also had to cover the income tax on it. Since October 2016 these advances are no longer taxed, so only the clause itself has to be paid. Any club paying €1 billion would still have to account for the cost under UEFA’s financial rules and its own league’s limits, such as La Liga squad cost limits.

Why do Premier League and Bundesliga clubs avoid buyout clauses?

Outside Spain, release clauses are not built into employment law in the same way. They exist only when a club agrees to one in contract talks.

In the Premier League, clubs generally avoid them because a fixed price takes bargaining power away from the selling club. When Manchester City signed Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, the deal was reportedly done through a release clause in his Dortmund contract.

Without a release clause, the selling club sets the price—as West Ham did with Declan Rice and Brighton with Moisés Caicedo, both sold for a guaranteed £100 million plus add-ons—or simply refuses to sell.

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