Barcelona are considering increasing Hamza Abdelkarim’s release clause from €15m to €150m as the club continues to guard against losing promising players at a cut-price fee.
The proposed figure would be 10 times higher than the current clause in the Egyptian forward’s contract and is expected to form part of an improved new deal. Spanish reports say Barcelona regard the existing amount as too low given Abdelkarim’s development and the growing interest in him.
The move reflects a policy shift that began after Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017. The French club paid €222m to activate the Brazilian forward’s release clause, making the transfer the most expensive in football history at the time.
Neymar’s departure proved to be more than a record-breaking transfer for Barcelona. It forced the Catalan club to reconsider how it protected players regarded as central to its future, particularly young prospects.
Before Neymar’s move, a €222m clause appeared to be a figure beyond the reach of almost every club. Barcelona subsequently concluded that even such a substantial amount was not enough to prevent the wealthiest sides in Europe from signing their best players.
The first major signs of the new approach appeared in contracts agreed or renewed after Neymar’s departure. Lionel Messi’s clause was set at €700m, while the figures for Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets were raised to €500m.
Barcelona also placed €400m clauses in the contracts of Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho and Arthur Melo. Sergi Roberto’s clause increased from €40m to €500m, while Samuel Umtiti’s rose from €60m to the same €500m level.
By 2019, the club had gone further by placing an €800m release clause in Antoine Griezmann’s contract. In October 2021, Barcelona announced a new deal for Pedri containing a €1bn clause.
Ansu Fati received the same protection when his contract was extended until 2027 in October 2021. In April 2022, Barcelona confirmed that Ronald Araujo’s new agreement also included a €1bn release clause, before Gavi joined that group in September of the same year.
The club continued the policy with Lamine Yamal. When Barcelona announced his contract in October 2023, it said the deal, which ran until June 2026, contained a €1bn clause.
Abdelkarim’s potential €150m figure would still be well below the €1bn clauses attached to the contracts of Pedri, Gavi and Yamal. However, it follows the same principle while reflecting the Egyptian player’s age, with the forward not yet 18.
Barcelona’s caution has also been shaped by the recent departure of attacking midfielder Pedro Fernandez Sarmiento, known as Dru. He joined Paris Saint-Germain in January after the French club paid his €6m release clause, a move Barcelona considered a “betrayal”.
According to an earlier report by Catalan newspaper Sport, Dru’s departure was particularly painful for Barcelona. Head coach Hansi Flick also expressed his regret at the time, saying: “If someone wants to play for Barcelona, they have to live and breathe the colours of the club with every fibre of their being.”
The source article also carried separate reports claiming that FIFA had spent millions of dollars to protect the reputation of its president, Gianni Infantino, and that Infantino had received gifts from Vladimir Putin and used FIFA for personal purposes.
