New FC Barcelona signing Ilkay Gundogan can possibly walk from his new club for free this summer after inserting a clause into his contract according to SPORT.

On Wednesday morning, Relevo was one of the first outlets to report that the outgoing Manchester City captain was ready to sign for the Catalans after passing his medical in Germany.

In the late afternoon, SPORT and Fabrizio Romano then reported that the 32-year-old had signed a three-year contract with the La Liga champions.

Two of those years are fixed, and the optional extra 12 months can be taken if Gundogan plays in at least 60% of the matches in the 2024/2025 season.

Without getting ahead of ourselves, however, Gundogan hasn't yet been registered for his new employers.

Usually this would be no issue. Gundogan is still a Manchester City play until June 30, and registering his agreement on July 1 would usually be a mere formality for most clubs.

This is FC Barcelona we're talking about however, and the Blaugrana's struggles to register the contracts of players such as Gavi and Ronald Araujo in recent times while not erring on the wrong side of Financial Fair Play limits are well-documented.

Barca are confident that they can get Gundogan registered on July 1. Yet according to SPORT, the midfielder has had a clause inserted into his contract in order to protect himself in the event that this doesn't come to fruition.

If he isn't officially a Barca player able to play in La Liga by the first matchday of the new season on August 12, Gundogan can walk on a free transfer and say "thanks for nothing".

Hopefully this doesn't come to pass, but nothing can be guaranteed whenever Barca's precarious financial predicament is a factor.

To avoid losing Gundogan becoming a potential issue, the Catalans will be dependant on player sales with wingers such as Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres and Raphinha all available if the right offer comes in.

As these men are all signed to long-term deals, though, they are under no obligation to go anywhere if they don't want to creating an an accounting headache for president Joan Laporta and director of football Mateu Alemany.