Joe Allen has a relegation clause which applies to every top six team bar one

Well, this is an interesting one

The football world is littered with interesting contract clauses, from Luis Suarez' alleged clause with Barcelona which bars him from biting other people, to Thiago Silva's alleged clause in his PSG contract which barred him making disparaging comments in public. As great as these are, none get close to the contract clause which has come to light since Stoke City's relegation. Before they were relegated Stoke acquired the services of a man called Joe Allen - a nifty little Welsh footballer who was once nicknamed "the Welsh Xavi" - from Liverpool. Since signing Allen, things have not gone particularly for the Potters, as the club have quickly slipped from their perch as a comfortably established Premier League side to one which isn't even in the Premier League anymore. Presumably foreseeing the unhappy events which would eventually occur, both club and player inserted a clause into Allen's contract which would allow a top six team to buy him for a fee of £25 million pounds, a huge amount of money in the real world, but a fairly small amount in the twisted world of football. So, conceivably any top that has finished inside the Premier League's top six can secure his services for that specific fee. Except, that is, for Liverpool. Yes, Liverpool are prevented from taking Joe Allen back. Exactly why they are prevented from doing so is not exactly clear, though one can safely assume that Allen himself is not particularly keen on heading back to Anfield. All of this means that - either way - we are likely to see Allen return to the Premier League this summer, which was probably going to happen anyway. It just won't be to Liverpool.