BARCA KEEP KRKIC BUY-BACK CLAUSE
Bojan Krkic’s move from Barcelona to AS Roma in the summer has been met with intrigue by many within the game. It is understood that the deal included a buy back clause for Barcelona should they wish to bring back the youngster in the future.
Having made a reasonable start to his Barcelona career it was decided he had not made the inroads expected and he was offloaded to Italy. But unlike many others who fail to make it at the biggest clubs he remains tied to the Catalans and could realistically make a return if he proves himself at Roma. The deal between the two sides is understood to have a buy back clause in it allowing Barca to bring Bojan back to the Nou Camp in the future for a pre agreed fee if they so wish - the euro football betting reckon that Krkic is all but certain to move back at some point.
Such clauses are not common place in football, providing the selling club with a huge advantage in any move. It provides them with something of an insurance policy against making significant errors in selling players who may go on to one day be good enough.
According to betting.betfair.com, Barca have used this tactic before when a young Luis Garcia was judged to not be of the required standard to progress from the B Team to the senior side. He was offloaded to Atletico Madrid in a cut price deal. Atletico took the gamble and got a player of Garcia’s quality for less than they may expect to pay for him. Garcia flourished at Atletico and was brought back to Barcelona as agreed in the initial deal a year later. He again did not make the grade and left for Liverpool after two more difficult seasons, but it does show how the system may work.
Roma have picked up a potentially fantastic young player and if they nurture him well and he is a success in Italy they will have the bonus of having a great player at their disposal. If Barca do decide to come back for the player then Roma will no doubt make a healthy profit on their investment and influence on the player. It will be interesting to see if these deals catch on. The appeal to the selling club is obvious and the appeal of picking up a world class player on the cheap and being financially rewarded for improving him will no doubt appeal to smaller or less heavily backed clubs.