During the most recent transfer market, Manchester United sold players at a value of £103 million, the most in their history for a single transfer period.
The most surprising element to their transfer dealings was the new facet of ‘sell on’ clauses’ – these were included in both the Scott Mctominay transfer to Napoli and Facundo Pellistri deal to Panathinaikos, in that Manchester United were to receive a percentage of any future sell-on fee to another club for these players.
This is smart and a clever insight into the new aims of INEOS, whilst they are getting rid of potentially great players who may go on to achieve success at other clubs in the world, they still have the potential to profit.
Usually, 3rd party interests in player transfers can be tricky.
For example, Neymar was recently acquitted by the courts of Spain in a trial that was related to his transfer from Santos to Barcelona in 2013.
The claimant, DIS, based in Brazil, alleged that Neymar and other named defendants including the president of Barcelona, had intentionally hid the cost of his transfer to avoid paying them, as they were a partial owner of his player rights. The court held that there was no evidence of any fraud and no intention of harm aimed towards DIS.
DIS wanted to send Neymar to prison, as they had gained rights in 2009 to receive 40% of any future transfer that Neymar was involved in – they said that they only received a percentage of 17 million euros rather than a suggested 82 million. However, the court commanded the legality of the deal, as Barcelona paid Neymar’s family business and Santos in separate contracts.
Granted, the cases are different, as this a Brazilian Company profiting off the rights of a player, rather than a huge footballing entity like Manchester United – however it does emphasise the need for airtight drafting of legal clauses within player contracts.