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FC Schalke 04: What is Amine Harit’s release clause?

By Kevin Parvizi

SINSHEIM, GERMANY - OCTOBER 20: Amine Harit of FC Schalke 04 gestures during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Schalke 04 at PreZero-Arena on October 20, 2019 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
SINSHEIM, GERMANY - OCTOBER 20: Amine Harit of FC Schalke 04 gestures during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Schalke 04 at PreZero-Arena on October 20, 2019 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /
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FC Schalke 04 signed Amine Harit to an extension through 2024 on Wednesday, and it looks like his contract carries two hefty release clauses.

Amine Harit has been the Bundesliga’s biggest breakout star in 2019-2020, bouncing back completely from a 2018-2019 campaign in which he barely played under Domenico Tedesco. FC Schalke 04 are in position to qualify for the Champions League, and Harit’s star power has carried the day for the Royal Blues.

So it was critical for Schalke to sign Harit to an extension, which they did on Wednesday. The deal runs through 2024, and it keeps the club from losing the Morocco international to, say, Liverpool or FC Barcelona for far less than market value. More importantly, it keeps the team’s best player in Gelsenkirchen for the foreseeable future.

According to a report from BILD, Harit’s new contract contains a release clause worth 60 million euros that will begin in 2021. That release clause will drop two seasons after that to 50 million euros in 2023.

For comparison’s sake, Leroy Sane was purchased for 50.5 million euros by Manchester City a few years ago, as that was Sane’s release clause. So Harit’s initial release clause is actually more expensive than Sane’s, which shows that the club is in a slightly better position to hold onto their best young players.

Harit is only 22 and has played so well this season that he could conceivably be worth 60 million euros to a team by the end of the 2020-2021 season. Barcelona, for example, could easily part ways with that amount of money for Harit, and there are lesser young players who have gone for more than this price.

Next. Mark Uth is out until 2020 with an injury. dark

Still, 60 million euros is a good bit of coin for Schalke, and they’d get at least one more great season from Harit before having to cross that bridge. How they’d make use of that money would be the key, but since Schalke can pick up the likes of Ozan Kabak for 11 million euros, 50 or 60 million could go a long way.

But Schalke won’t want to think about the “What ifs” when it comes to losing Amine Harit in a few years. No, they’ll want to enjoy all the magic in Harit’s boots, as the young man is a huge reason for the team’s return to prominence in the Bundesliga this season. He is well on his way to be recognized as a world-class player.

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