Frenkie de Jong contract, salary: Details of Barcelona star's new deal including massive release clause

Frenkie de Jong contract, salary: Details of Barcelona star's new deal including massive release clause originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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• The latest on Frenkie de Jong's new contract
• Frenkie de Jong's salary
• Frenkie de Jong's release clause
• Why Frenkie de Jong's salary was such a sore subject

One of 's most important players under manager Hansi Flick has agreed to a new contract, ending a long period of contentious negotiations which had become a popular topic within the club's media following.

Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong, whose current deal was set to expire in the coming offseason, has agreed to a new long-term contract which tacks multiple years onto his stay in Catalonia.

The 28-year-old has risen back to prominence under Hansi Flick, once again becoming an everyday fixture in the starting XI and wearing the captain's armband on occasion. However, he was not always thought of as such a vital piece of the club's daily performances.

De Jong's complicated history with the club for a time saw him as one of the more despised players in the Barcelona squad, and this new deal signifies the end of that period of his time at the club.

The Sporting News brings you all the details about de Jong's new contract, and what it means for both the player's overall legacy at the club and the club's foreseeable future.

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Frenkie de Jong contract extension with Barcelona

On October 15, 2025, Barcelona officially announced a long-term contract extension with midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

The 28-year-old has put pen to paper on a new deal that runs through the summer of 2029, seeing him tied to the club for the next four years.

Previously, his deal signed upon arrival in the summer of 2019 was a five-year contract running through the summer of 2024. He re-upped in 2020 on a six-year contract that was set to expire in the summer of 2026. At the time of his latest deal, he was one of four Barcelona players to significantly backload their salary structure to aid the club through a difficult financial period at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frenkie de Jong salary with Barcelona

According to multiple reports, Frenkie de Jong has accepted a massive salary reduction as part of his new contract, helping the club ease their way back to financial regularlity.

Barcelona have become known for their poorly structured wage bill in recent years, leading to significant financial constraints which infamously saw the departure of Lionel Messi and has since hampered their ability to register new players.

De Jong's last contract was structured to provide significant relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was backloaded to see the Dutchman reportedly earn a whopping €23 million ($26.8m / £20m) through the final year of the deal.

Thus, his new contract reportedly sees him earn around €12 million per year ($14m / £10.4m) according to Dario AS as cited by beIN Sports.

Frenkie de Jong release clause with Barcelona

As part of his new contract with Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong reportedly sports a new €500 million ($582m / £434.6m) release clause.

This is an increase of €100 million from his previous release clause, which was set at €400 million.

These exorbitantly high release clauses are common for superstar players, and serve less as a realistically functional mechanic and more of a badge of honour to be compared to other players as a sign of importance to the club.

For example, De Jong's young teammate Lamine Yamal, who at just 18 years old has risen to one of the most prominent and decorated players in the world, sports a €1 billion release clause. No club has remotely the financial means to trigger this contractual mechanic, and it instead serves as a sign of his status within Barcelona.

Frenkie de Jong slams reports of past contract dispute as 'lies'

Frenkie de Jong's history of contract negotiations with Barcelona is a contentious one.

The Dutchman was infamous for a time at Barcelona for his exceedingly high wages. Having done the club a favour during the COVID-19 pandemic by backloading his wage structure, he became a popular target by local media and the Barcelona fanbase for being reportedly unwilling to renegotiate down his high salary once the final years began to kick in.

However, upon signing his new contract in 2025, and accepting a wage reduction along with it, de Jong hit out at what he believed to be false narratives pushed by the media which negatively affected his perception within the fanbase and caused his performance levels to drop.

"I'm not going to say what I'm earning," De Jong said during the announcement of his new deal. "They [the media] have always talked a lot about it, and I've already said a couple of times that what I supposedly earned before was greatly exaggerated, and the [accurate] figures have never been revealed.

"I think that has affected how people see me a little, because if they read in the newspapers that Frenkie earns that much and that he's the highest earner in Europe, which wasn't true, that does affect how people see me."

De Jong was often blamed as a major contributor to Barcelona's financial constraints, a sentiment which he fought back against. His wage structure resulted in a salary far exceeding most other players not just at Barcelona but across Europe, but in his mind, he was owed those payments for providing the club critical relief during a period of financial emergency.

However, the Dutchman argued that things were blown out of proportion by the media at the time, which caused the fanbase to revolt against him for a time.

"And I think it's your fault," he continued, pointing the proverbial finger at the media in attendance. "But I'm very happy, and the club is happy, too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have renewed." De Jong also took a jibe at the media when asked if he felt under-appreciated."