FC Barcelona have previously made good amounts of additional revenue from former players by adding sell-on clauses in their contracts with their new clubs once the player’s transfer is finalized. Even in today’s market, they continue to repeat this method for certain stars.
Two cases in particular stand out, that of French central defender Jean Claire Todibo and Brazilian maestro Philippe Coutinho. Most recently in the world of transfers, the latter seems to be attracting serious interest from outside of Europe.
According to Spanish outlet SPORT through updates provided by Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Coutinho has attracted major interest from Saudi Arabian side Al-Duhail and they have already agreed personal terms between themselves.
Currently contracted to Aston Villa, the player’s current club has not given the green light as of yet, however. Despite this, given the serious intent of Al-Duhail to sign the 31-year-old, negotiations with Aston Villa are also expected to advance.
The benefit of Coutinho making his move to Al-Duhail could be significant for Barcelona. The Catalan giants have a sell-on clause in place with Coutinho that would see 50% of the surplus amount received by Villa on top of the amount that they themselves paid for the player go to Barcelona.
In terms of values, 50% of anything received above the €20 million mark will be received by FC Barcelona. As such, the Catalan giants keep a close eye on this operation as it could end up being a rather beneficial agreement for them should it end up taking place.
To this date, the Brazilian star remains the most expensive signing in the long history of FC Barcelona. Having previously arrived from Liverpool in 2018 for a record-breaking fee in La Liga, the player’s time with the Catalan giants may not be one most would favorably look back upon.