Arsenal want to sign Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah this summer, but the current football situation creates a unique problem with his release clause.

Germany v Northern Ireland UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifier 1582110916
FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Jonathan Tah of Germany looks on during a UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifier on November 19, 2019. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Sport Bild (via Sport Witness) report that Arsenal are ‘very interested’ in signing Jonathan Tah this summer. The defender has a €40m release clause, and that’s seemingly not enough to put the Gunners off the signing.

The issue is that this clause is only valid until May 31st. The idea was obviously to encourage a buyer to commit early on, at which point Bayer Leverkusen would have the whole summer to sign a replacement.

This is a big problem right now, as the season won’t be over by May 31st. In fact, Arsenal will still likely have over 10 games to play by that point. They won’t know if they can afford a €40m move before the clause expires.

The clause is applicable every year, not just until May 2020. So if Arsenal really wanted Tah and were willing to wait, they could activate it in May 2021. That doesn’t really help much for the time being.

Tah has a contract until 2023, so there’s no real rush to sell from his club’s side. He’s up to 32 appearances this season, as well as nine career caps for Germany.