Eight duels won, five tackles… Youngster Man Utd sold for £500k shines against Chelsea, buy-back clause could be useful

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Manchester United’s Europa League quarter-final first leg came to a frustrating end on Thursday night.

After a strong performance, Andre Onana cost Manchester United with his terrible errors, which handed Lyon two goals on a plate without really challenging Ruben Amorim’s side.

United were not the only English side in European action on the night, though, with Spurs only managing a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, which leaves their quarter-final completely up in the air.

Down in the Conference League, Chelsea was also in action, and Ineos will have had a vested interest in this game for a handful of reasons.

Chelsea beat Legia Warszawa 3-0 on the night. In the game, United loanee Jadon Sancho finally put in a decent performance, his first contribution in 14 games, just as rumours begin circulating that he will return to Carrington this summer as Chelsea doesn’t want him.

During this game over in Poland, there was also a former United youngster in action, and he was very impressive.

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How Maxi Oyedele fared against Chelsea

Last summer, one player Ineos sold for cheap was Maxi Oyedele who joined Legia Warszawa for just £500,000. This move raised some eyebrows considering he had impressed during pre-season.

Oyedele has since become a full Polish international, which speaks to the quality he has been showing over in Poland.

Well, on Thursday night came the biggest club game of Oyedele’s career as he started in midfield against Chelsea.

On a night when Legia were well beaten by the English side, Oyedele was one of the main positives for his side as he played 82 minutes.

Oyedele had the most tackles in the game and also won the most duels in the game as he dominated the midfield battle.

It was a statement performance for the 20-year-old as he showcased that he is developing into a top class defensive midfielder, yet another product of the United academy going on to have a good career.

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Manchester United have a buy-back clause for Maxi Oyedele

With Oyedele playing well against Premier League opposition, it is worth remembering that United actually have a buy-back option.

Darren Fletcher has predicted Oyedele will be a ‘top player’, and United made sure to avoid any future embarrassment by giving themselves favourable clauses within the sale.

United retained a 50 per cent sell on clause, while also negotiating a £15m buy-back clause which can be triggered at any time. However, with the 50 per cent sell on, if United spent £15m on Oyedele, they would get £7.5m of this back.

If Oyedele plays like this consistently and develops his on-the-ball ability with consistency, it might be a brilliant move from United as he would be an excellent squad player to have, costing so little.

Very handy inclusion in the sale by Ineos, could end up being useful.