FC Barcelona Clause Allows New Signing Gundogan To Leave For Free

New FC Barcelona signing Ilkay Gundogan can possibly walk from his new club for free this summer after inserting a clause into his contract according to SPORT.

On Wednesday morning in Spain, Relevo was one of the first outlets to report that the outgoing Manchester City captain was ready to sign for the Catalans after passing his medical in Germany.

Later that afternoon, SPORT and Fabrizio Romano then confirmed that the 32-year-old had penned a three-year contract with the La Liga champions.

Two of those years are fixed, and the optional, extra 12 months can be taken if Gundogan plays in at least 60% of the matches in the 2024/2025 season.

Without getting ahead of ourselves, however, Gundogan hasn’t yet been registered for his new employers.

Usually this would pose no issue. Gundogan is still a Manchester City player until June 30, and registering his agreement on July 1 would be a mere formality for most clubs.

This is FC Barcelona we’re talking about however, and the Blaugrana’s struggles to register the contracts of players such as Gavi and Ronald Araujo in recent times while staying on the right side of Financial Fair Play limits are well-documented.

Barca are confident they can get Gundogan registered on July 1. Yet according to SPORT, the midfielder had a clause inserted into his contract in order to protect himself in the event this doesn’t come to fruition.

If he isn’t officially a Barca player able to compete in La Liga by the first matchday of the new season on the weekend of August 12, Gundogan can walk on a free transfer and say “thanks for nothing”.

Hopefully this doesn’t come to pass, but nothing can be guaranteed whenever Barca’s precarious financial predicament is a factor.

To avoid losing Gundogan becoming a possibility, the Catalans will be reliant on player sales with wingers such as Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, and Raphinha all available if the right offer comes in.

As these men are signed to long-term deals, though, they are under no obligation to go anywhere if they don’t want therefore creating an accounting headache for president Joan Laporta and director of football Mateu Alemany.