Club ‘trick’ forces Liverpool to pay €15m more for transfer – Big gamble ends up paying off

Liverpool ended up paying €15m more than they might have done for Dominik Szoboszlai this summer, thanks to a smart bit of foresight from RB Leipzig.

That’s according to BILD, who explain how the German side secured themselves a bigger fee for the Hungarian with a bit of a gamble when he arrived.

They explain that when Szoboszlai joined from RB Salzburg in the January transfer window in 2021, he signed a deal until 2026 that included a release clause.

However, the Hungarian was unable to play due to a pubic bone injury, which meant he had not made an appearance in the months that followed and thus run down six months of his contract without playing.

RB Leipzig’s managers were ‘already absolutely convinced’ on the player, though, and wanted him signing to a six-year deal, which they had failed to do in the winter.

Thus they ‘seized the opportunity’ to extend his contract in the summer of 2021, despite the fact he had not played a single game for the Bundesliga club.

Just how important that decision was became clear two years later, i.e., this summer, when Liverpool came calling.

That’s because the new deal they had given the player meant that his release clause had been ‘dynamically inclined’ and moved back by another year.

Thus, rather than it expiring last year it expired this summer instead and had been increased from €55m to €70m, meaning Liverpool had to pay more than they would have done if that new deal had never been signed.

Instead, Leipzig pushed for it, got what they wanted and via a little ‘trick’ and some excellent foresight, ensured a bigger transfer fee from Liverpool.