Robert Lewandowski recently revealed that Barcelona asked him to stop scoring. In a new biography of the player, written by Polish author, Sebastian Staszewski, it is claimed that during the 2022/23 season, once Barcelona had secured the league title, the club asked the striker not to score anymore.
Initially, Lewandowski was shocked, though he later found out that this was to avoid triggering further transfer-related bonuses that would be owed to former club Bayern Munich.
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As such, in the final two games, Lewandowski didn’t score, finishing the season with 23 La Liga goals.
Other Examples Of Clauses Being Controlled
Transfer clauses in football now are considerably commonplace. In general, these are linked with club performance and what they achieve such as league finishes and trophy hauls. It means that if these events occur, the buying club has to pay the selling club a bonus.
In the case of Lewandowski, the clause was for scoring over a certain number of goals which is why when it was confirmed that Barcelona had won the league, he was asked to stop scoring.
As well as transfer (permanent moves) clauses, you also see loan clauses in football; some of them more complicated than they really need to be.
When Juan Cuadrado moved to Chelsea from Fiorentina, there were a number of complex clauses in place. It meant that he was subbed on more often than not, or being left on the bench near the threshold, because there was an option to buy in his contract if he started 20 games.
Martin Odegaard’s eventual move to Arsenal saw him spend a season on loan there first, though there were a number of clauses involved in his contract designed to give the Gunners an out, which included failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Similar Instances For Contract Renewals
Interestingly, clauses are also used in contract renewals. It is sometimes the case that clubs put players on contracts that trigger an automatic one-year renewal upon reaching the end of their contract after making a certain number of appearances.
It appears that Barcelona are somewhat masterful at finding loopholes as towards the end of goalkeeper Victor Valdes’ career, when they were very much a club in transition and the Spaniard was struggling with injuries, they used him sparingly to avoid triggering a lucrative new deal.
There are claims from Frederic Kanoute that while the striker was at Tottenham, he was sometimes left out of the squad near the end of the season, to avoid Spurs also having to trigger a one-year extension clause.
The Neymar Situation
When it was revealed that PSG wanted to sign Neymar from Barcelona, the Brazilian had a €222 million release clause. However, Barcelona refused to negotiate and would not accept the payment directly for fear that this would breach Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
As a result, PSG paid Neymar the €222 million directly (essentially framed as a signing bonus) and the striker then deposited it with La Liga’s lawyers which effectively released him from his contract. This act expedited the transfer and avoided the transfer being help up by legal challenges.
