The general idea of a release clause is to allow a player to leave if another club comes in with a fair offer, but PSG ruined that as soon as they signed Neymar.
Clubs are now trying to put massive clauses into contracts in the knowledge that nobody will ever meet it, so it does make it essentially pointless.
Barcelona are the latest club to do this after Mundo Deportivo confirmed they signed Gustavo Maia to a contract with a €300m release clause.
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It does make a mockery of the situation because he’s barely got any first team experience, while the report confirms that Barca paid €4.5m to sign him so the clause is miles away from his market value.
Despite that, you can also argue that the club are only doing what they need to do to protect themselves, so it should be seen more as a legal procedure rather than a show of confidence in the youngster.
Maybe he will go on to be a superstar and the clause will make sense, but it does look unlikely.