15.01.2020 - 15:43 | Source: Transfermarkt | Reading Time: 8 mins

Sign, loan out, sell

How Man City & Co. make transfer profits with players never featuring for them

“My dream is to be at City and fight for a spot. There are world-class players but nothing is impossible. I will fight and try to be a part of one of the best teams in the world,” Uriel Antuna (photo) told Fox Sports in early October regarding his future (quoted via Marca). The 22-year-old right winger previously played a strong season alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Los Angeles Galaxy and contributed four goals and two assists to Mexico’s 2019 Gold Cup win. Originally, Antuna wanted to return to his parent club Manchester City this winter. By now, it seems certain that he will never play for the Citizens, however.

Market Value U. Antuna Right Winger € 4.00 m

For the first time since 2017, Antuna plays in his home country again this year. Traditional club Deportivo Guadalajara paid £8.9 million for 13-time international’s services. A profit that Man City can enter in the books without ever contributing to Antuna’s development – they only had a good eye for the player when scouting him.

The attacker joined Pep Guardiola’s team from youth club Santos Laguna in 2017. He does not hold a European passport, however, and as he was not part of the Mexican national team back then, most likely would not have been granted a work permit in England. Only one day after signing him, the English top club sent him out on loan to FC Groningen for one-and-a-half years as a result. Antuna barely featured for the Dutch outfit’s first team and moved on to Los Angeles in January of 2019. There, the attacking allrounder developed well – and on the back of Antuna’s strong season, Man City sold him to the Chivas for a profit.

Antuna: “Decisions, the clubs make” - Chelsea’s loan army as a role model

“These are decisions that the clubs make,” Antuna told Milenio on the amount of the fee in December. Only five players in history cost more when they moved to Liga MX. “You know from the beginning that you won’t be involved in that. We only hear the amount that will be paid. When I was a child, I never expected to cost that much money at some point. (…) There are always people, who say that this is a lot of money for someone like me. Too much. But I tell you: These are the amounts that the clubs pay. I’m not responsible for this.”

In the past few years, this transfer model developed into one of the most common: The top clubs use their financial strength to tie down talents early. They often develop during loan spells at other clubs – the success of Chelsea’s loan army is exemplary for this. Either players become alternatives for the squad at their parent club, Thibaut Courtois (27) would be such an example, or it is tried to sell them on for as much profit as possible. Also if they often go through a number of loan clubs before being sold permanently or selling them turns out as a mistake later – although no one knows if Mohamed Salah (27) and Kevin De Bruyne (28) would have developed similarly at Chelsea.

Out of necessity – the club had to serve a transfer ban last summer – Tammy Abraham (22) became a regular starter for the Blues this season. The centre-forward, who was always considered to be very talented, was out on loan three times before. For Kenneth Omeruo (26), who was loaned out seven times before his £4.5 million move to CD Leganés last summer, things went differently. The amount of the training compensation Chelsea paid to Standard Liège in 2012 is unknown.

For Chelsea, Omeruo never featured – just like Thorgan Hazard (26), Christian Atsu (28), Michael Hector (27), Stipe Perica (24), Patrick Bamford (26) and Victorien Angban (23). Through sales after different amounts of loan spells, Chelsea made transfer profits of about an aggregated £31.5 million, nonetheless. This figure becomes significantly higher if one adds the transfers of Bertrand Traoré (24), Nathan Aké (24), Papy Djilobodji (31) and Gaël Kakuta (28). These players played fewer than 20 times for the London club respectively.

Market Value T. Hazard Left Winger € 32.00 m 32.00

Antuna, Mooy, Ünal: Man City’s huge profits on players that never featured

The case of Antuna now shows that Manchester City have adapted Chelsea’s approach and even developed it further: The Citizens make even bigger profits with their loan players that never featured in a competitive game for them than the Londoners. This works as a result of good scouting and a bit of luck, like with the young Mexican, who left an impact in very relevant markets – in the MLS and at the Gold Cup – for the league in his home country.

Or because of the interrelations inside the City Football Group: Midfielder Aaron Mooy (29) surprisingly joined Man City from Melbourne City in 2016, but was instantly loaned out to Huddersfield Town, where he performed well and reached promotion with the Terriers, who subsequently signed him permanently for £8.2 million. Besides Antuna and Mooy, Douglas Luiz (21), Jason Denayer (24), Enes Ünal (22), Gerónimo Rulli (27), Rubén Sobrino (27) and Florian Lejeune (28) are without an appearance for Guardiola’s team as well – all of them have been sold for a profit.

Cáceres & Co.: These players never featured for their parent club but were sold for a profit

That this does not always work out, the example of Olarenwaju Kayode (26), who moved to Manchester for £3.4 million from Austria Vienna in 2017 and immediately joined partner club FC Girona on loan, demonstrates. After a loan spell at Shakhtar Donetsk, a £2.7 million transfer to bring him to Ukraine permanently followed. Other players like Pablo Maffeo (22/on loan at Girona from Stuttgart) also brought in transfer profits, but occasionally featured for Man City in the meantime. Current Hertha player Karim Rekik (25) would be such an example as well.

The next generation of possible candidates for a sale, who will most likely never wear the sky-blue shirt at the Etihad Stadium, is already in line. It is highly unlikely that City will rely on the services of Yangel Herrera (22/Granada) and Marlos Moreno (23/Portimonense) in the long term. It remains to be seen if they provide for a transfer profit, however. Ivan Ilic (18/Breda) is still too young to predict his long-term potential. Félix Correia (18/Alkmaar), Ante Palaversa (19/KV Oostende) and Slobodan Tedic (19/FK Cukaricki) have only been signed last summer, but have immediately been loaned on to another club or back to their previous one respectively. Talented Spanish defender Pedro Porro (20) joined Man City for £10.8 million from Girona last summer, but was immediately transferred to Real Valladolid in a deal including an option to buy.

Juventus joins in on loan transfer system with Man City and Chelsea

That the system to park players at loan clubs to let them increase their value there and subsequently sell them on is not only used by Chelsea and Man City is obvious because of its success. Juventus practise it with huge success as well, as the transfers of Riccardo Orsolini (22/for £13.5m to Bologna), Alberto Cerri (23/for £8.1m Cagliari) and Andrea Favilli (22/for £10.8m to Genoa) display. The Bianconeri were involved in deals for a lot of talents in Italian football on a national and international basis – not least because of these sales, they were able to generate the funds for Cristiano Ronaldo’s fee and wages.

Market Value R. Orsolini Right Winger € 22.00 m 22.00

That such an approach can go either way, the history of Villarreal shows. Uruguayan international Martín Cáceres (32) joined the Yellow Submarine from Defensor for £810,000 in 2007 and was immediately loaned out to Recreativo Huelva. There, Cáceres convinced this much, that FC Barcelona contacted Villarreal in the summer of 2008 and paid £14.9 million for the defender. In the case of Cristian Espinoza (24), who joined for £6.5 million from Club Atlético Huracán in 2016, the Spaniards made a loss, however. The Argentinian went out on loan four times, never featured for Villarreal and moved on to the San Jose Earthquakes for £2 million in the end.

Loan market booms - FIFA plan restrictions

In September of 2018, reports came up that FIFA want to put a stop to the wild activities on the loan market. As German magazine Sport Bild learned back then, the world association plans to limit the number of players out on loan to eight. In addition to that, a maximum of three or four players can be loaned out to the same club at the same time. The exception according to the report: “Talents under 21, who were developed at their parent club and are under contract there for a longer period of time, can be loaned out in unlimited numbers to support their development by giving them match practice.”

One year later, the New York Times reported that FIFA task force dealing with the case recommends to introduce the new rules in 2021/22. One year after that, the number of players out on loan that are over 21 should be limited to six. “The smaller leagues will benefit from this. Because many players will be on the market, transfer fees should drop,” web portal Watson later analysed.

Coutinho, Rebic & Co. - the most valuable loan players

As long as this ruling is not implemented, the loan market booms: As the Financial Times calculated with the help of Transfermarkt data, loan deals only accounted for six per cent of transfers in the top 5 European leagues at the start of the 1990s. Since then, this figure increased to 29 per cent.

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