Aston Villa reportedly inserted buy-back clauses in agreements to sell Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey and Jaden Philogene this summer, and the fees involved have been touted.
It was a contentious decision for some to sell our top talents this past summer transfer window, with hopes that particularly Archer and Philogene would make a breakthrough at senior level this season.
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Philogene had impressed during pre-season, while Archer has shown he can deliver at every level he’s been tested at thus far, and it was felt as though there was a role for him to play behind Ollie Watkins in this campaign.
As for Ramsey, he impressed out on loan last season too and as he strived to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Jacob, there were high hopes that Villa’s talented crop of youngsters would make an important contribution this year as we look to compete on multiple fronts.
However, that wasn’t to be as Ramsey joined Burnley before Archer signed for Sheffield United in a permanent move while Philogene sealed a switch to Hull City.
At the time of their respective exits, it was reported that we inserted buy-back clauses in those agreements, thus giving us the option to bring them back in the future if they go on to impress and show Unai Emery that they can deliver at the top level and deserve an opportunity to return.
In a recent VillaTV Q&A, Villa’s President of Football Operations, Monchi, revealed that the decisions were made with FFP in mind, but he too stressed the importance of those buy-back clauses.
“It has been a very complicated and hard-working summer, but I think we should be satisfied with what we have done, as we have kept all the important players plus the arrival of the five.
“The sales have basically been to balance our FFP, but in most cases we have repurchase options, so I think we have covered our backs.
“I am happy with the work we have done, and I want to congratulate all the people involved.”
Now, the Daily Mail’s Tom Collomosse has reported that the fees involved in the buy-back clauses for the trio are around double the transfer fees received for them this past summer.
That in turn puts Archer’s at roughly £40m, Ramsey for £30m and Philogene at £10m.
Should Villa opt to trigger any of those clauses, it remains to be seen if those figures are firstly accurate, but particularly in Archer’s case, that is a significant fee, and so he’ll certainly have to make a big impression in helping Sheffield Utd avoid relegation this season to warrant Villa paying that kind of money to re-sign him.
Nevertheless, it’s an important option to have in case they do go on to be successful and prove their ability to produce at the top level, and time will tell if we see them in a Villa shirt again in the future.