A shot in the foot

When I was little, summers began with impossible transfers. When school let out, my siblings and I would settle down for the three summer months at "El Terreno," a house my grandparents built near Tordera. Far from the name's evocative landed property, it was so named because for many years of slow savings, it was literally just a piece of land. Then the house arrived, but that working-class name stuck forever.

As soon as David or Jonathan arrived from their school kidnapping, we would sit on the curb and relish the rumors of the thousand transfers announced in the newspapers. For years, I was convinced in June that Bergkamp or Batistuta would sign for Barça , only to be disillusioned in August, a sort of disappointment that prepared me for impossible summer romances.

Had it happened then, this week, there would have been a huge celebration on the pitch. In a twist that wasn't exactly soap opera-like, Barça quickly finalized the signing of Joan García, the Espanyol goalkeeper, for the 25 million euro buyout clause. It went down badly at Espanyol , of course, but if the goalkeeper had had the same season at Barça, he would have been a starter in the Nations League for Spain. I think it's understandable.

Those ten-year-olds were even more excited about the soap opera that's just starting: Barça is once again negotiating for Nico Williams, a close friend of Lamine Yamal (who not-so-subtly posted a photo on Instagram with the Athletic forward when the negotiations were taking place), and who has a release clause of 58 million euros, a low average price considering his level, age, and potential.

Beyond whether his signing is compatible with Raphinha, the Barça move has made me think about the meaning of buyout clauses. The system, according to a 1985 Spanish employment law, allows a player to break his contract to join a new club. The rule came into effect to abolish the slavish right of retention, which plagued Quini for years before signing for Barcelona , ​​and which allowed clubs to apply a 10% salary increase and extend the relationship between the parties indefinitely. Things have changed since then, and football is different. While clauses could previously have even been favorable to La Liga teams over the rest, with no fixed figure for the sale of their players, in a world of state-run clubs, the clause puts any star up for sale who doesn't have a sky-high price tag, conveniently offset by the player's salary.

Barça seems poised to take advantage of the rule this summer, as both the goalkeeper and the striker are worth more than the clause stipulates, but the happiness won't last forever. If everything has a fixed price, all you need is money to buy it.

And some do.