Liverpool: Football finance expert discusses Charlton Athletic’s sell-on clause for Joe Gomez

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been discussing how it would work if Charlton Athletic sold their possible sell-on clause for Liverpool’s Joe Gomez.

In the summer of 2015, the Reds sealed the arrival of the English centre-back from the Addicks after they paid an up-front fee of £3.5m (per Daily Mail).

However, that transfer fee was reportedly ‘likely’ to rise from £3.5m to £6m based on the player’s appearances.

In the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed the sell-on clause that Charlton have for Gomez and how it would work if they were to sell it.

He said: “They’re perfectly entitled to do that [sell off their sell-on clause]. You can sell a contract for practically everything. So, this is what’s referred to as a contingent gain for Charlton should Joe Gomez be sold by Liverpool Football Club.

“It’s a glorified insurance policy, but we don’t know whether he’s going to be sold or not. Somebody comes along and says, ‘Well, I think he’s going to be sold at a potential profit of £10m, 30% chance of that happening, I’ll give you £3m now’, and that’s fine.

“Brighton did something broadly similar when they sold Gareth Barry to Aston Villa. They had a big sell-on clause and then as you know, my club, we were skint at the end of the last century and we sold the Gareth Barry sell-on clause for less than £1m, which proved to be not the greatest deal in the history of the club.”

TIF Thoughts…

So, seemingly, if the Addicks do have a sell-on clause for Gomez, then they can cash it in early for the predicted value of the clause.

With Charlton currently at risk of expulsion from the English Football League due to concerns about the club’s current owners (via The Sun), it may be a good time for them to sell their clause if they have one.