Manchester United have nearly completed their first major sale of the transfer window as Donny van de Beek is close to an exit for Girona.
The deal for the midfielder developed quickly after he had fallen out of favour with Erik ten Hag as well, which led to him spending the second half of the season on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt.
As soon as that loan spell became a failure, it was a given that United would have to take a huge loss on his transfer.
Considering those circumstances, it looks like United have managed to make the best out of a bad hand dealt to them and emerged with credit to their name.
Here we go arrives, and a pattern is emerging
Fabrizio Romano has given his famed “Here we go” to the move which was an open secret but it is the terms of the deal that are encouraging.
Besides the initial fee and add-ons potentially making it a success for United if they are met, there is a different pattern emerging to United’s sale that is extremely promising.
Just like the Mason Greenwood transfer will potentially have one, Van de Beek’s terms of sale also include a sell-on clause which would net United a percentage of the transfer fee if the player is sold in the future.
It is a wise move since United know they are selling distressed assets aplenty, courtesy of a decade of financial mismanagement by the Glazers.
Theoretically, Van de Beek is a much better player than the amount he is being sold for but United have been such a black hole for many talents in the past that their selling record ends up being abysmal.
Therefore, instead of sitting on their laurels and being happy to let the contract of such players expire, Ineos are being smart by banking on these players finding themselves again in new surroundings.
It is not a transformative or a new way of working that United have pioneered either. Other clubs with great selling records do it all the time and it is a surefire way to keep some control over assets no longer under contract.
Promise for the future
It is a measure of how well Ineos did their audit of the club operations that they have immediately started fixing one of the biggest mistakes by the Glazers at United.
Spending money without a plan was a problem but not being able to recoup any of that through sales was a bigger one since one directly affects the other.
Van de Beek’s sale sets a good precedent and Greenwood’s sale with a similar clause included will make it a pattern. Once it becomes a pattern, teams coming to buy do so with the knowledge that this particular clause is borderline non-negotiable.
The path to resetting United’s image in the transfer market begins here and it is off to an extremely promising start.
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