Liverpool and Mane not alone: Five clubs who rejected transfer clauses for being too unrealistic

Some clubs go all Football Manager with transfer clauses. Liverpool scoffed at Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane add-ons but they’ve been here before.

Liverpool are bored of being messed around by Bayern Munich, whose latest Mane offer included a ‘laughable’ £6.5m payment if the Germans lifted the Champions League and Mane was crowned Ballon d’Or winner in each of the next three seasons.

That is not the first transfer clause that a selling club has rejected out of hand. Liverpool themselves have experience in telling prospective buyers to think again.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka – Crystal Palace to Manchester United

But Manchester United would have had other contingences written into the transfer if things had gone their way. It was reported during protracted negotiations that Palace were ‘unimpressed’ by the nature of the performance-related clauses, one of which was known to be an additional payment if Wan-Bissaka made 25 Champions League appearances for a club which had just qualified for the Europa League; three years later he is less than halfway there on 12.

Some outlets went one further and suggested that Manchester United pledged more money if they won the European Cup, despite not advancing beyond the quarter-finals since 2011. In Palace’s eyes, that was fairly accurately deemed ‘to be wildly unrealistic’.

Hugo Ekitike – Reims to Newcastle

The Ligue Un club have been far more receptive to a summer approach. Newcastle are expected to complete a deal for striker Ekitike worth €36m, plus €10m in what have been described by French sources as ‘easily attainable’ bonuses. Perhaps they started with just qualifying for the Champions League first.

New hamstring injury for Hugo Ekitike today during France game. His agent was expected in