Here’s a short lesson about how Portuguese clubs deal with release clauses: €45m is never enough.
Local sides love protecting their players with huge contract clauses, no matter the star’s age or what they’ve achieved for the club.
This is the case of Rafael Leão, a youngster who has recently made his first start for Sporting and is already in the spotlight.
Right after his first performances for the Lions, clubs like Manchester City and Manchester United were said to be interested, and that’s when the red light at Alvalade was turned on.
Talks regarding a new contract have been reported since then, and today, newspaper Correio da Manhã claims that his new release clause has already been decided.
Even though the deal is still to be agreed, it’s already defined that Leão will have a €100m release clause, exactly to protect him from the English giants.
Both United and City are mentioned in the article, as they would be both impressed with the 18-year-old for the goal he scored in the big match against Porto on Friday.
Even though José Mourinho’s and Pep Guardiola’s clubs are unlikely to pay such money for a teenager, we all know this means that Sporting will be able to hold onto him for longer, making big demands when negotiating. After all, that’s how they get most of their sales done.
