Ever wondered what Gerd Muller's buy-out clause would be today?

We’ve taken five of the greatest players in history and given them all buy out clauses based on modern trends and markets.

Lionel Messi’s Barcelona contract has a 250 million Euro buy out clause while Cristiano Ronaldo has a 1 billion Euro buy out clause at Real Madrid.

This got us to wondering what sort of buy out clauses some of the best players to have ever graced the game would have if they were playing right now.

Gerd Muller

What hasn’t already been said about Gerd Muller and his record for club and country? He scored 398 in 453 games for Bayern Munich, 68 goals in 62 matches for West Germany and has an overall club record of 487 goals in 555 matches. These figures alone have to put him on the same sort of level as Ronaldo, easily.

Estimate: £1 billion

Pele

Pele was undoubtedly one of the best strikers of his generation and his prolific strike rate rivals Messi’s. He’d be representing Brazil, a football mad country and his European appeal would be massive in terms of marketing for any side. In short, any side would have to pay silly money for his contract.

Estimate: £500 million

Gary Lineker

Lineker was one of the best strikers around during his playing days with a record of 243 goals in 466 games for all clubs as well as 48 in 80 matches for England. Slightly lower profile than many other individuals but his goalscoring ability would be his biggest asset.

Estimate: £250 million

George Best

The late great George Best would probably be in his element if he was playing right now; being paid more than ever before with some widespread social activities getting him into the headlines for the wrong reasons. Massively popular but slightly unreliable away from a football pitch.

Estimate: £100 million

Diego Maradona

Possibly the greatest Argentinean forward of all time. Again, he’d be a massive marketing figure for the club that owned him and his ability as a football player would be worth tens of millions in itself. However, his unpredictable nature away from the pitch may force a slightly lower clause.

Estimate: £80 million

Give us your own estimates and valuations.

Lewis Doe

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Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.