Report: Everton set for unexpected transfer windfall
One of the things that clever teams are doing more and more often – in this case Everton – is inserting buy-back or sell-on clauses in player sales.
It’s something that Italian champions Juventus have utilised to great effect in a number of deals over the years.
These clauses may never be triggered in the case of the buy-back options, but more often than not a sell-on clause will pay dividends.
That could soon be the case for Everton, with the Liverpool Echo reporting on Saturday that the Toffees could receive a portion of the £10million transfer fee if former Blue Antonee Robinson seals his anticipated move to Italian heavyweights AC Milan.
The Merseyside outfit sold Robinson to Wigan Athletic for around £2million last summer, and it’s understood that Milan are now working on a deal to sign the 22-year-old before the transfer window shuts.
If the signing goes through then Carlo Ancelotti will get an extra boost to his transfer fund after the Toffees inserted a sell-on fee clause when they offloaded the youngster to the Latics.
Was this good business by Everton or do they now look foolish for selling Robinson?
Once they’d decided to sell him then the sell-on fee was obviously smart business. However, the fact that a club as large as Milan are about to swoop for Robinson makes it seem as if the Toffees should have kept hold of him.
Still, with Lucas Digne at Goodison it was always going to be difficult for Robinson to make the breakthrough, which was presumably the club’s thinking when they sold him.
You do wonder, though, with Leighton Baines soon to be no longer, whether Robinson should’ve been kept around to compete with Digne moving forward.
In other Everton news, the club are reported to be monitoring the situation of a standout Championship right back.