Chelsea broke Barcelona’s transfer policy – here’s how it’s been fixed

Chelsea have prompted Barcelona to rip up their transfer policy regarding La Masia’s brightest young talents.

The Blues’ signing of Marc Guiu from the Camp Nou side in 2024 has played a role in the Catalans totally revamping how they structure their agreements with academy prospects.

Guiu left the club 18 months ago when Chelsea triggered his €6 million release clause, while PSG’s signing of Dro Fernandez in January for around €8m appears to have cemented Barcelona’s belief that they need a new plan.

Barcelona’s problem

Currently, Barcelona feel that they do not have a robust policy in place that allows them to get true value for their young players should they decide to leave the club, Sport reports.

This is because the Catalan side must give each player a release fee in their contracts under Spanish law. Barcelona had picked a default figure of €6m.

The solution

Following Guiu’s transfer to Chelsea, which was a deal that Barcelona had not planned for, the Spanish club totally rewrote their policy for young players.

Instead of a flat release clause across all La Masia prospects, players are given a figure based on reaching certain benchmarks. When a player is called up to play in a Youth League match, for example, their release fee will climb to €8m while playing for Barca Atletic means that this figure jumps again to €10m.

Other markers include being registered with the reserve team or playing between six and ten matches with the first team.

The case of Dro Fernandez

Barcelona put this policy into place following Guiu’s exit but it only applies when players sign a new deal with the club.

In the case of Dro Fernandez, who departed for PSG in January, the teenager had already signed a contract with Barca before that point. He was therefore bound by the old rules.

Barca ultimately landed €8m for Dro because PSG decided to negotiate the fee as it made the deal more favourable for them due to tax reasons, but under the new policy, Dro would not have left for anything less than €25m – the arbitrary figure in place for La Masia graduates who have played five official matches for the first team.

The aim is for a robust policy to be in place to ensure Barcelona get fair value for their academy stars. They missed out with both Guiu and Dro, and it’s clear they harbour significant regrets.

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