Winter 2025 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Beard82]

We don't, but it seems sensible to contemplate a world where there might be one.

I don't see any reason why his agent wouldn't have insisted on it, and any reason why we would have said no.

Release clauses are still the exception in England. There's no reason to assume it would have been "insisted on" whatsoever. He might well have one, talking about it as definite just seems like pessimism for the sake of it.

Optimism or pessimism doesn't come into it. I'm not assuming it would have been insisted on, I just can't think of any reason why they wouldn't have asked for it.

Contract negotiations either happen at a time when the club is in a more powerful position, or at a time when the player is in a more powerful position. Duran signed his contract at a time when (given his form at the time) his position was more powerful than than that of the club. So he was in a position to ask for more, like Grealish and Delph before him were.

There might be one. Or there might not. I'm not particularly concerned either way. But it's still fine to consider the dynamics involved, precedent and come down on a side that is more likely than the other. For example, I'm pretty certain that Rogers wouldn't have one.

Whilst I wouldnt be surprised if he did have a release clause, I dont think that was neccessary the case that he was in a stronger position.   Whilst he was on form - he had time left on his contract, plus he nearly signed for West Ham and made a bit of a dick about himself.  I think some of it was of him commiting to the club and putting all that mess behind and buying into the role that the club had for him. 

So I dont think he had us over a barrel in the way Grealish and Delph did.  So if there is a release clause I would expect it to be one the club would be happy with.  i see it more similar to Rogers as rewarding a player and showing they are valued and appericated her and considered "key"

Yup, don't really disagree with any of that - but I'd also argue that the Grealish release clause was also one that the club was happy with. If they're not happy with it, they're not going to agree to it. Even Delph to a certain extent. £8m was better than £0m.

But I think this is the most obvious recent example of the club doing whatever they needed to do to quickly secure the future value of an asset - the only other comparable one recently would be Martinez, and he's the only other player in the squad that I think (on balance of probability) might have one.

I think Martinez and possibly Olli could well have one. Martinez almost certainly - I wouldnt be surprised if his was linked to performance of the club.  I.e. if we dont qualify for Europe, he can leave for x.  Basically he is the best goalkeeper in the world, and hell want to protect himselve from playing for a midtable team during his peak years.

I agree - the Grealish one was one we would have been happy with I think we got a fair price for him.  I dont really have an issue with them and have confident that the club will set them at the right price.  After all, even in the dark days we didnt often sell key players for bad amounts.  Grealish and Delph wasnt about the money we got, it was about the way they left. 

[Dave]

I think Martinez and possibly Olli could well have one. Martinez almost certainly - I wouldnt be surprised if his was linked to performance of the club.  I.e. if we dont qualify for Europe, he can leave for x.  Basically he is the best goalkeeper in the world, and hell want to protect himselve from playing for a midtable team during his peak years.

Yup, reckon you're spot on on the Martinez stuff. 

But I don't think Ollie would. If he'd signed the contract at the end of the best season he's ever likely to have, rather than in early autumn before he really started smashing it, I think it would be more likely.

But at the time he signed it, it was more club-in-the-position-to-dictate-terms rather than him.

[john e]

I think we were happy with the 100mil release figure for Grealish because we didn’t think anyone would pay it

[JJ-AV]

Would you not be tempted?

Nope.

Leicester could probably have got loads of money for Vardy had they cashed in halfway through the 2015/16 season. They'd have been much richer, and almost certainly have still never have won anything other than the League Cup in their history.

We need to stop trying to sell players the second they start attracting attention if we are ever going to win things again.

That's true, but Leicester were half way to winning the league at that point. After a Summer of FFP restrained transfer business we're not better.

[Dave]

As an aside, Leicester were happy to sell Vardy to Arsenal that year but he rejected the offer and decided to stay.

[OCD]

Even if there is a release clause, it might be on a sliding scale depending on performance measures. For instance, his value might be €85m now but if he's scored 20 goals by the end of the season, it might be €100m by the summer. Think about the buy-back deals we did for Philogene and Aaron Ramsey. They were set at X in their first season and Y (a higher figure) in their second year. That could have been part of any negotiations for protecting an asset who's value was on the rise.

The owners seemed pretty reluctant to use release clauses following the Grealish affair. Does the fact that there was turnaround in his situation mean there's a release clause? Not necessarily. His salary was quadrupled and he's usurped Watkins as a first team starter and he's had an improved attitude. But it does sound like we were quite quick to give Dortmund a figure if there's the slightest grain of truth in that report.

I think part of Duran's frustrations in the summer were knowing what his salary was compared to what West Ham were prepared to pay him, coupled with being viewed as a senior striker. The new contract remedied those things. Signing a new contract was predictable once we didn't sell him, I called it back then.

[Villa in Denmark]

F.C. Copenhagen are in discussions to sign Robin Olsen.
@F_Abolhosseini

Not seen anything reported over here.
Probably his level and where he last looked any good.

Now reported over here but all based on the original story.

[eamonn]

I remember the summer Grealish left, a lot of folk on here were adamant that there was no release clause in his contract. Of course it shouldn't have been a surprise that there was given his previous "disappointment" at not going to Spurs in exchange for Josh Onomah and whatever fell out of Levy's sofa.

Durán strikes me as more restless than Grealish and with little ties to us. I'd be more surprised if he doesn't have one. Hopefully we've set it as high as Grealish's.

[paul_e]

I remember the summer Grealish left, a lot of folk on here were adamant that there was no release clause in his contract. Of course it shouldn't have been a surprise that there was given his previous "disappointment" at not going to Spurs in exchange for Josh Onomah and whatever fell out of Levy's sofa.

Durán strikes me as more restless than Grealish and with little ties to us. I'd be more surprised if he doesn't have one. Hopefully we've set it as high as Grealish's.

Wasn't that mostly because the club had said something suggesting there wasn't one?

[VillaTim]

I remember the summer Grealish left, a lot of folk on here were adamant that there was no release clause in his contract. Of course it shouldn't have been a surprise that there was given his previous "disappointment" at not going to Spurs in exchange for Josh Onomah and whatever fell out of Levy's sofa.

Durán strikes me as more restless than Grealish and with little ties to us. I'd be more surprised if he doesn't have one. Hopefully we've set it as high as Grealish's.

Given his age , position (Nr 9) and potential I'd hope it's a tad higher . £120m ish

[john2710]

Given Duran had 3 1/2 years left of his existing contract & we were no doubt offering a big increase in salary, if his agent insisted on a release clause I'd assume we'd tell him to get lost.

[Percy McCarthy]

According to one of The Athletic writers, every player is told what the club would accept for their transfer, and they are free to tell their agent what it is if they’re looking to move. So, that’s kind of a release clause I suppose.

[edgysatsuma89]

I remember the summer Grealish left, a lot of folk on here were adamant that there was no release clause in his contract. Of course it shouldn't have been a surprise that there was given his previous "disappointment" at not going to Spurs in exchange for Josh Onomah and whatever fell out of Levy's sofa.

Durán strikes me as more restless than Grealish and with little ties to us. I'd be more surprised if he doesn't have one. Hopefully we've set it as high as Grealish's.

Wasn't that mostly because the club had said something suggesting there wasn't one?

I remember when I brought up my confidence that Grealish most likely had a release clause, quite a few disagreed with me on the basis there was no evidence out there (fair enough, I still just thought it was a logical assumption) but I don't recall anything specific being mentioned about the club saying anything. I could be wrong, though, my memory is shite.