Sky-High Penalty Clause

Laporta, having just been elected president of Barca, immediately called Braida to demand an immediate increase in Li Mingyu's release clause.

Li Mingyu's current release clause is only 50 million.

At this price, given Li Mingyu's current trajectory, it is certain that by this summer, many clubs would be willing to pay it to take Li Mingyu away.

Although Li Mingyu was cultivated by Barca, Barca certainly cannot pin their hopes on Li Mingyu's emotional attachment to the club!

Therefore, increasing Li Mingyu's release clause has become an imperative matter.

However, increasing the release clause inevitably means increasing Li Mingyu's annual salary.

An annual salary of 5 million is nothing in the eyes of Barca, but how much of an increase would it take to make Li Mingyu willing to accept such a high release clause?

300 million!

That's right, the release clause Laporta proposed is exactly 300 million.

Currently, in the Barca squad, Messi's release clause is 300 million, and there is one other player with a 300 million release clause: the starting center-back Lenglet.

However, the Frenchman Lenglet's performance has already made Barca want to vomit blood. Last year, over the course of half a year, Lenglet's performance was mediocre, repeatedly gifting penalties to opponents and ruining the team's favorable positions.

Nowadays, his 300 million release clause has become a laughingstock.

Nevertheless, Laporta is still willing to gamble on Li Mingyu's talent.

However, Lenglet's annual salary is only 5.7 million, and Li Mingyu would absolutely not accept such a salary; even if he could, his agent would never agree to it.

"Hello, Mr. Andrew!"

"Hello, Mr. Braida!"

In Braida's office, Andrew sat opposite him.

Li Mingyu's outstanding performance has left Andrew feeling triumphant.

"Mr. Braida, I wonder what the reason is for having me here today?"

Although Andrew is not very famous, he has a very keen sense of smell and had already heard some rumors, so he pretended not to know what was going on.

Braida smiled slightly and said, "First of all, I must thank Li for his tremendous contribution to Barca!"

Andrew gave a reserved smile and nodded slightly.

Braida took a contract from the side, pushed it in front of Andrew, and said, "Our president personally gave the order, saying that the previous contract is no longer worthy of Li's performance, so I have drafted a new one. Please take a look!"

Andrew picked up the contract calmly. The content at the beginning was much the same, so after a quick glance, he focused his attention on the back.

Contract duration: 5 years.

Annual salary: 8 million Euros.

Andrew's eyes lit up; Barca is truly generous.

Three goals, and each goal is worth 1 million Euros!

A satisfied smile appeared on Andrew's face, but as his eyes moved down, the smile vanished.

Andrew put down the contract, his face turning gloomy, and said, "Mr. Braida, are you joking about this release clause?"

Braida smiled slightly and said, "Why, is there a problem?"

Andrew straightened his back and said with a serious expression, "This release clause is too high; it's inappropriate. If I remember correctly, only Messi and Lenglet have such high release clauses in the Barca squad!"

Braida nodded and said, "Yes, this is also a sign of our team's sincerity. Li is a good player, and he is an excellent player who came out of our La Masia Youth Academy. We hope he can stay at Barca forever. Although this release clause is high, it also represents that Barca is willing to treat him as a pillar player like Messi!"

Andrew shook his head and said, "No, no, that's not the same concept. Although my player likes Barca very much and is a product of Barca's La Masia Youth Academy, that doesn't mean he has to stay at Barca for the rest of his life. Such a release clause is a form of harm to my player, not a form of protection!"

The two engaged in a series of verbal sparring matches in the office.

Andrew could never accept such a high release clause.

For an agent, a player's transfer fee is one of his biggest sources of income. If he were to rashly let Li Mingyu sign this contract, it would be equivalent to saying that Li Mingyu would be unable to leave Barca for these five years.

That would mean Andrew would lose out on his commission from transfer fees.

Although Li Mingyu might not necessarily transfer, if the right to freedom cannot be held in his own hands, what kind of agent would he be?

Under normal circumstances, a release clause is 10 times the annual salary. Of course, there is no written rule for this; it is just a convention.

Therefore, Andrew kept emphasizing that if Li Mingyu's annual salary is set at 8 million Euros, then the release clause cannot exceed 80 million Euros.

In the current market of "moneyball" football, an 80 million Euro release clause is nothing. If Li Mingyu truly displays a dominance no less than Messi's, 80 million Euros would be a joke.

Although the two could not reach a consensus, they finally decided in a friendly manner to wait and see.

Laporta received a call from Braida, was silent for a long time, and said, "Then let's watch a few more games. Tell Koeman that I need to see Li's potential!"

Andrew specifically sought out Li Mingyu to tell him about the matter.

Although Li Mingyu has deep feelings for Barca, he is not a saint who would rather suffer a loss, so he fully agreed with Andrew's approach.

Li Mingyu had no intention of leaving Barca. Being able to play for Barca and becoming a partner with Messi was his childhood dream. Now that the dream has come true, he hasn't yet won enough honors with Messi, so how could he leave easily?

If the Barca top brass knew Li Mingyu's thoughts, they probably wouldn't be in such a hurry to renew his contract.

After all, when it comes to things like release clauses, if the player himself doesn't want to leave, the clause is just empty words.

Li Mingyu did not forget his previous promise. Taking advantage of the big win in the match, he invited his teammates to his family's restaurant to let them taste what a real Chinese feast is.

As die-hard fans of Barca, Li Mingyu's family was overjoyed by the arrival of the Barca team.

Li Zhenfei also pulled out all the stops, preparing a table full of delicious Lu cuisine, which left these foreigners, who had never eaten authentic Chinese food, licking their lips and praising it endlessly.

With this, "Li Family Restaurant" became an instant hit.

The new darling of the Camp Nou, the restaurant opened by Li Mingyu's family, suddenly became a viral hotspot for Barca fans to check in!