I could have joined Chelsea or Tottenham but stayed put and am now worth £423m

Pau Curbasi looks likely to stay put at Barcelona for the foreseeable future considering he has a €500m (£423m) release clause written into his contract.

Despite being linked with Chelsea and Spurs last summer, the 17-year-old centre-half will remain at Camp Nou until 2027 unless a club is willing to pay the eye-watering sum to acquire his services. It comes after Curbasi renewed his contract back in May, with Fabrizio Romano reporting ahead of the deal that the buy-out clause was set to be €1billion (£855million).

The talented defender would ultimately receive a €500m (£423m) release clause – while half of what was predicted, an amount which is still likely to prevent any clubs from opening negotiations. Chelsea were said to be keen to sign the youngster last summer, with Spanish media suggesting they had ‘pushed to sign’ him despite never making a first-team debut for Barca at the time.

Spurs were also said to have been interested in the Spaniard, and at the time his release clause was said to be a mere £13million – more than affordable expenditure for top-tier Premier League clubs. But with an out-of-reach fee for most, it looks as though Curbasi will be staying put for the foreseeable future after snubbing the chance to leave and breaking into Barcelona’s first team.

The Espanyol native came up through the youth ranks of Girona before switching his allegiance to Barcelona in 2018. He made his professional debut for Barcelona Athletic (Barcelona B) in 2023, before making his first-team debut at the Camp Nou this year – playing 19 times for his club in La Liga alongside Ronald Araujo.

In a shocking turn of events, Curbasi was left out of Spain’s final squad for Euro 2024, with Aymeric Laporte, Nacho Fernandez and Robin Le Normand all getting the nod ahead of him. However, it doesn’t seem to have impacted the team, who managed to top their Euro 2024 group with wins over Croatia, Albania and Italy and face Georgia in the round of 16 on Sunday.

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While release clauses are popular in many countries, they are mandatory in Spain – and have been for around 40 years. This is due to player welfare rights and prevents a club from holding onto a player should they no longer wish to represent a certain team.

And while some players may have more reasonable release clauses – Ousmane Dembele, for example, only has one of €50million (£42m) – some of La Liga’s top stars have unreachable prices to keep them in Spain. It is said that Jude Bellingham has a whopping €1billion (£855m) clause at Real Madrid, while Barca talent Pedri has the same eye-watering figure written into his contract.

Chelsea will still be on the lookout for a centre-half to join their ranks this summer – albeit not Curbasi – as 39-year-old Thiago SIlva will join Fluminense on a free upon the expiration of his contract next month. Enzo Maresca is said to be looking at £50million Nottingham Forest man Murillo as a swift replacement, but Football.London understands that the Blues have informed the Midlands club that they will not pay full price.

This means that they may include players like Armando Broja, Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr and Cesare Casadei to sweeten the deal.