Ode to be a Barcelona fan. The Nou Camp outfit are the envy of world football at this moment in time and it is all because of the stunning form of Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
'MSN', as they have come to be known, have torn defenders to pieces over the past 12 months. Since the start of 2015, they have scored 125 goals between them. To put that number in context, that is the same amount as the entire Bayern Munich team have scored and more than any other club in Europe.
Needless to say, there are plenty of people – mainly Barcelona fans – who believe Messi, Suarez and Neymar are the three best footballers in the world. Indeed, only Cristiano Ronaldo prevented a Barcelona clean sweep at this year's Ballon d'Or award ceremony.
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To add the icing on the cake, it appears that all three of them are happy to stay in Catalunya for the long term. And why wouldn't they? They're winning everything football has to offer whilst earning huge money in the process.
And even if a club did try to prise one of them away, they would have to pay incredible money to do so. Catalan newspaper Sport have published the release clauses of the three stalwarts and, yes, they are impressive.
Here are those release clauses:
Neymar | €190m
The Brazilian superstar has emerged as a genuine contender for Messi's crown this season, scoring 14 goals in 12 La Liga games. After he was named in the final three for the Ballon d'Or, Barcelona are keener than ever to nail him down to a new deal, with a bigger release clause to boot.
They are aware that the billionaires behind Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and the commercial powerhouse of Manchester United could all afford to meet Neymar's clause if they wanted. In fact, Neymar's father claimed United did indeed make such an offer, but the 23-year-old decided to stay with Barcelona.
Luis Suarez | €200m
Barcelona fans were apprehensive when their club forked out £75m to sign Suarez from Liverpool in 2014. Considering he would miss the first two months of the season with a global football ban for biting, you can understand why.
But the 28-year-old picked up exactly where he left off and has himself been banging in the goals for fun, scoring 17 goals in 17 appearances across La Liga and the Champions League this season. Although his release clause is only just above Neymar's, the fact that Suarez is five years older means no club is likely to meet it.
Leo Messi | €250m
The jewel in a very fancy crown is undoubtedly Messi. The diminutive Argentinian has already broken almost every scoring record there is to break in Spain and has plenty of miles on the clock to break the ones that remain.
He is so good that even this gigantic release clause has once been met, at least according the Sun. They claimed that Anzhi Makhachkala agreed to meet the demand in 2012 only to see Messi reject a staggering £460,000-a-week deal. With Anzhi now rock bottom of the Russian Premier League, it was probably the right decision.
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