Now it is not often you will see me do this, but I am about to praise Barcelona. Dad if you’re reading this, don’t panic I have not got a gun to my head, I am genuinely impressed by something they have done.
What is this thing I hear you cry – well Barcelona now include buy back clauses in the sales of their young players – Romeu being the latest one to have such a clause. This will give them at the very least the option to have first refusal on the player should Chelsea wish to sell him, and at a very reasonable price too. It is also claimed by Mundo Deportivo that Barcelona have the option to buy the player back not only this summer, but also in the summer of 2013 – without Chelsea’s consent and even worse, for a pre-arranged fee– contrary to what AVB claimed. Mind you, this is the man who does not judge strikers on the amount of goals they score, but all in all, some pretty savvy business from the Catalans and Rosell.
Well to be fair, after the humiliation of having to pay huge sums of money, not to mention courting both Pique and Cesc for months before convincing them to return ‘home’ it is about time the club started protecting its unbelievably talented La Masia players.
Now the idea is to let them progress through the ranks, then sell them to another club for a couple of years, allow them first team experience and see if they do develop into the level of player required at the Catalan giants, and then sweep in and take them from under the unsuspecting club who have placed them in their first team and allowed them to grow as a player.
If anyone else did this, God only knows how the media and clubs would react, but been as though Barca are ‘more than a club’ I am sure everyone will see this as almost a community service, allowing the player to return home to the Camp Nou.
Even I am willing to admit, this is a masterstroke by the club, and one that other clubs will surely admire – perhaps not Chelsea – and implement in their own transfers of young players, for no other reason than to keep hold or at least have the option of doing so on their young players.
It is difficult to see if a player that looks good at youth level will react and improve when put into a first team, and sometimes they need time to bed in, and this is something that clubs like United and Real Madrid cannot afford to give. Should the club not wish to send the player out on loan, they could use this strategy of a buy back clause at a pre-arranged and lets fact it nominal fee.
It could also encourage clubs who are on the fence over selling a player to go through with it, on the understanding that they have at the very least the first option to get the player back. Not only this, but it can persuade a player to move from what they consider their home with the knowledge that they can return one day – Romeu has stated that although he is grateful to Chelsea for providing him with the opportunity to play first team football at such a top club, he sees Barcelona as his home and one day wishes to return there. How soon that is remains to be seen, but given the impact he has made at Chelsea so far, they will be hoping it is later rather than sooner!
Written by Rebecca Knight for FootballFancast.com.
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