Atletico Madrid Fifth to have three-digit release clause

The times when Atletico Madrid had to sell their biggest stars in order to move forward seem to be a thing of the past.

Those experiences of selling Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Radamel Falco are consigned to history and Los Rojiblancos are more desperate than ever to keep hold of their big names in order to compete in LaLiga and Europe, with Saul Niguez the latest one they are hoping to tie down to a long-term deal.

Despite selling Diego Costa, Arda Turan, Felipe Luis and Joao Miranda in recent seasons, Atleti have started to lose their label as a selling club, and their policy is to retain the spine of their squad.

Koke's release clause is the highest in their squad at 150 million euros, but Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak and Yannick Carrasco also have release clauses of 100m euros or more.

Saul's extension, which will see him stay until 2021, is one step further in ensuring the continuity of this group and the loyalty of the players to the club.

All of the extensions mean that Atleti will be using more than half of their budget on players' salaries, but they feel that there is no other way to compete for the Champions League.

The extensions are a sign that their best players are buying into what Diego Simeone has told them - that there futures are with Atletico Madrid.