By Victor Akhidenor
August 31, 2021 was football transfer deadline day. On that D-day, PSG and Real Madrid failed to agree on the transfer of wonderkid, Kylian Mbappe but European champions, Chelsea snapped Saul Niguez from Spanish champions Atletico Madrid.
Before the next transfer window opens in January 2022 Daily Trust Sports open the lid on bizarre clauses in some contracts that maybe, just maybe, PSG could use to ward suitors off Mbappe!
From ‘thou shall not bite’ to ‘thou shall not sign for Arsenal’, we expose seven recent contracts that will make you praise the ingenuity of the people behind the clauses.
Firm warning to Firmino
Liverpool placed an £82 million buyout clause when they signed Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim in 2015. But that’s not the intriguing part! The Brazilian can sign for FC IfeanyiUbah, who once had his fellow countrymen in their books or any club in the world except one…Arsenal! The Reds are obviously still annoyed with the Gunners when they tried to trigger off a clause in Luis Suarez’s contract in 2014 which gave birth to the famous quote: “What do you think they are smoking over there at the Emirates!”
Thou shall not bite
Since we just spoke about the Uruguayan striker Suarez, let us recall a clause in the contract between him and Barcelona before they agreed on a deal in 2014. Thou shall not bite! However, Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, said that Suarez’s contract does not contain a ‘no biting’ clause. The forward has already bitten Otman Bakkal, Branislav Ivanovic, and Giorgio Chiellini during matches. Since signing for Barca, and his subsequent move to Atletico Madrid, he has not bitten anyone!
We pay you to avoid trouble
Mario Balotelli’s ‘bad boy’ image will give any team concerns before thinking of doing business with him. Liverpool were worried too when they wanted to sign him from Milan in 2014. However, to encourage the Italian to stay out of trouble, the Reds offered him a bonus of £1 million if he could avoid getting three red cards in a season!
Wage in reverse
When Manchester United signed Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao in 2014, the law of diminishing returns was a favourite Economics topic of the Red Devils’ lawyers! The 20 times league champions added a clause where the Spaniard’s salary goes down every year. He started with £3.5 million in 2014 but by the next season he was on £2.3 million. It still rankles to think Herrera accepted this deal!
Advertising guru
When Daniel Agger moved back to Denmark in 2014 after spending eight seasons with Liverpool, he showed his creative side when he made Brondby agree to advertise his sewage company on pitch panels during their home games. Shrewd!
No red, please
Rafael van der Vaart loves red boots but when he joined Real Betis in 2015, he had to dance to the club’s tune. The former Tottenham forward was made to wear any colour of boots he liked but not the colour red of their bitter rivals, Sevilla! Talk about taking rivalry to new heights.
Military zone; keep off
We save the last for a player with Nigerian descent. Larry Kayode would have wondered if Austria Vienna was an extension of the armed forces where strict rules must be adhered to when he saw in his contractual agreements that players get fined for using their phones on the team bus, ordering room service, and wearing shoes in the medical room. Weird!
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