What is a buyout clause in football

What would a club do if it had extra cash lying in and was eyeing a player with more than two years left on his contract? 

The club would sit and watch? 

No, the club would trigger something called a ‘buyout clause’. It’s a payment that is paid by the buyer to the club for a player who is still under contract. 

For example, PSG paid Barcelona the buyout amount that Neymar had in his contract, and thus, he could leave Barcelona even with years on his contract. A total sum of $240 million was paid by PSG for Neymar, which is double the market value of any player back in 2018. 

Why is a buyout clause important? 

It protects the team against poaching. 

Teams who are financially capable of just spending money and buying whoever they want would mean there could be monopoly in transfer market, to sustain this and to ensure fair play of money is used by the clubs buyout clause are automatically included in players contract so that the sum of the players would be so large that it would be impossible any club to sign the players. 

For example, if a club tries to sign a player with a ridiculous amount of fees,, then that club would automatically come under the FFP(financial fair play) radar. 

Are clubs still using the buyout clause? 

Yes, the clubs are still using the buyout clause, and who would not? 

After the Neymar saga, clubs realised how important a buyout clause can be for a club, so now teams like Barcelona, who are always awarded by gems from La Masia, have targeted that “another Neymar saga” would never occur. 

For example, Barcelona has inserted a $1 billion buyout clause in the contract of Lamine Yamal so that a club would think twice even buying the player.