No it doesn't work like that. If only one club bid £13m then yes they would have to sell at that amount, as per the release clause, but if another club then bids £15m the selling club will of course go for that, then the original club comes back in with a higher offer etc etc.
As long as the clause is met then the club can speak to the player
Two things
As SS said even if another club offered more then the player could still talk to us as it's written in his contract that if a club triggers the clause he can
Also why would the other club offer more because they know the first point.. they couldn't bully the other club out of it as the player has that price written in his contract for that exact reason
It would simply come down to who the players wanted
Now what you don't know is that there may have been 5 clubs who triggered it but the agent said that the player has his heart set on Liverpool
They then drop away as opposed to having a headline written that he turned them down for Liverpool etc..
There was talk of other clubs anyway (The Ev, Newcatsle) and a serious bid from Lazio who put an offer to his agent the day before he signed for us which he ultimately turned down
Point being though is that the 13m was there.. and because it was there is no bidding war in terms of price.. the only bidding war is in essence his wages and package
I'm fairly sure release clauses don't work like that, but I'd love to get the opinion of someone else. If they really do work like that that they HAVE to sell to the first bidder and no other bidders are allowed then they are a complete bullshit thing for any club to agree to, you are basically capping the value of your asset and potentially losing money. Surely any club can bid against another club for a player and the higher bid will normally win, the release clause being met merely opens negotiations.
What you're not taking into consideration is that it was a relegation release clause, Stoke probably felt they were an established club and it wouldn't be triggered.
However they are a smaller club to players like Shaqiri and he may well have insisted on it or he wouldn't sign for them
They probably felt like you he would be worth more than 13m but hey F**k it we won't go down so just let him have it and get him through the door
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