Leeds United were ready to miss out on a windfall this summer after forgetting to incorporate a significant condition in a contract.
Leeds United will have to walk a fine line in terms of transfers if they return to the Premier League next season. The club simply needs to look at what happened at Everton, Nottingham Forest, and now Leicester City to see how difficult it is to grow a squad to stay in the top tier while adhering to the Premier League’s new Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Every cent that comes into the club helps, which is why the news that Leeds failed to negotiate a sell-on clause for Raphinha surprised everyone this week. The former Leeds player is in the spotlight after allegations surfaced that Barcelona could sell the forward to Saudi club Al-Hilal for £86 million this summer.
The Brazilian is expected to be one of the high-profile transfers that could happen in the Saudi league this summer, but Leeds will not receive a penny of the transaction since they did not insist on a sell-on clause when selling Raphinha to Barcelona for £55 million in 2022. That failing by the previous board could cost the current owners a lot of money if the purchase goes through.
A regular 15% sell-on clause would have generated £13 million, with more to come if Leeds agreed to a greater sell-on clause, as is common with teams.
That news has surprised former West Ham and Celtic striker Frank McAvennie, who feels Leeds will now come to regret their previous owners’ decision.
“Of course, Leeds will be deeply regretting not including a sell-on clause,” he told Football Insider. “You should always keep it in just in case!” I’m surprised that they didn’t.
“Barcelona may have stated that he will not be going, but they nonetheless included the clause. It’s odd, but that’s what a competent football director does. They cross every T and dot every I, which is a real shame. They could have made a lot of money.”
