Man Utd ‘99.9% certain’ player will return at the end of the season, but run risk of losing £13m

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Manchester United are heavily involved with a lot of outgoings in the January transfer window.

The likes of Donny van de Beek, Jadon Sancho and Sergio Reguilon have already departed, whilst many more are in the works.

This includes Hannibal Mejbri, who is on his way to Sevilla on loan, with the Spanish club getting an option to buy the Tunisian at the end of the season.

However, there’s been some confusion about this. Fabrizio Romano recently reported that now Manchester United have a buyback option on the 20-year-old, as per INEOS’ request.

Hannibal Mejbri 99.9% to return to Manchester United

On The United Stand’s latest YouTube livestream, transfer guru Romano sat down and discussed all transfer business involving the Red Devils. He stated the following about Hannibal:

“The feeling at United is that Hannibal is 99.9% returning to the club at the end of the season,” Romano begins.

“Because for Spanish clubs to invest 20 million euros, if you are not Real Madrid it’s very complicated. Even for Barcelona, even for Atletico Madrid.

“So, Man United believe this will be a six-month loan and the player will be back in the summer. That’s why in the beginning this buy-option clause was agreed, as they believed the player would always be back.

“Then what happened is, after conversations with INEOS they wanted to be protected because maybe there could be another club behind Sevilla in the summer try to make this deal happen with Sevilla for €20 million and then find a way with Sevilla to get the player.”

So, does this contradict previous reports? The Hannibal situation is a little confusing at the moment, so here’s the most up-to-date clarification regarding the academy prospect.

Hannibal Mejbri Sevilla clause, Explained

Broken down, United agreed on an option-to-buy clause initially in the Hannibal deal as they believed it was never realistic for Sevilla to get together the fee anyway.

However, INEOS stepped in and added a buy-back for United in terms of security, just in case Sevilla decided to do a deal with another club behind Manchester United‘s back.

• Hannibal Mejbri is joining Sevilla until the end of the season on loan
• Sevilla have an option to buy for €20m (£17.2m)
• Manchester United don’t believe they will be able to pay €20m (£17.2m), so are ‘99.9% sure he’ll be back’
• INEOS advise to insert a buy-back clause just in case Sevilla do business with an external club
• The buy-back clause is €35m (£30m)

So essentially, if Sevilla bought him.. this means that United would have to fork out £13m difference to get him back.

However, with their financial situation, this is highly unlikely. Also, United may choose not to buy him back at all. This is only security in case his value skyrockets. A confusing one, but we hope we broke it down a little more.