Dane specifically said in earlier interviews that the rumored $20M buyout was much lower. There may be some bluster as to the "growing on its own" bit, but we have to remember that this a multi-party negotiation being played out through rumors and leaks and speculation. Until there is a firm offer and F2F negotiation (so to speak), there is no reason to get too connected to any one number.
If they go up and meet the price they need to meet, I’d be shocked if he didn’t accept it. And it’d be a huge mistake. They’ll be walloped up in the Prem should they make it up, it’s a classic bounce back down side. Would be on the back foot week in week out with limited opportunities. I’m hoping he scores in the playoff final and they lose and he transfers to a mid table side.
Whatever happens is a massive windfall for Dike. Dude exploded on the scene and you have to assume every major European team has taken notice of him. It will be interesting what options he has available going forward.
I could be wrong but it wouldn't make sense to have a transfer with a buyout that the player did not sign off on some sort of terms/wage agreement beforehand.
Why would he agree to personal terms with the new club prior to the loan? That would be extraordinarily bad management by his agent.
I agree with @Dirt McGirt, though I also don't have any info one way or the other. Often times clubs come to agreements on transfers but then can't agree on the personal terms aspect and the deal falls through. If loans with options are similar to standard transfers, then the clubs deal first and then the player with the new club after that's settled. So, in my mind, transfer agreement would get done first (Barnsley meeting the contractual fee) and then they would deal with Dike.
Fair enough, and I have no experience in player agent club negotiations. It would not be very good business to take a player on loan with an option, if at the end of the day the player could block the option exercise. At a minimum I would think the buying club can have him for the duration of his contract at his present wages plus some moving expenses. Otherwise the option to buy has no significance whatsoever. I think what happens is most of the time clubs buy a player and his contract. He can then work on the terms of the old contract, or the player and club renegotiate for extended time on the contract for additional wages. This why the longer time on a contract the higher the players fee's are. I could be wrong, but I cannot see how an option to buy means anything if the player does not have to honor his contract terms. My post was mostly to challenge the line of thinking that if a mega club comes after him, Barnsley will get priced out and have no say. I don't think that is true, it is Barnsley's option to by, and the price has been agreed upon according to the quotes in this thread from the parent club. So if there is mega club interest Barnsley will buy and sell on booking a tidy sum. Dike probably gets a raise either way, as Barnsley or any other team would likely want to sign for a longer period in order to amortize the transfer fee over more years. I did some cursory searching on the internet albeit not necessarily academic sources and the info I found aligned with my take, but that could be as simple as confirmation bias.
Pretty sure transfers are not the same as a loan with an option to buy. the main difference being a transfer is open to any and all bidders, a loan with an option to buy will be at the option of the clubs who holds the option. I am pretty certain that if we are not there yet, we are just a couple of Dike goals away from knowing for sure. Things that make you go hmmm.
I strongly doubt that there's any obligation for the player to transfer if the fee is met. There very well might be some sort of unwritten understanding that the player would sign in such an event. But, after all, the club wanted to borrow the player, not buy outright so why would a player commit to transferring to a club that isn't sure it even likes the player? Further, as for the "gentlemen's agreement", most loans with option to buy don't go so spectacularly well. Such an agreement would turn to dust if clubs much higher up the ladder come calling and offering way more money. "Thanks, sorry, I know, bad form but gotta take this offer. I appreciate the opportunity you've given me!"
Yes, a loan with option is a closed-bid kind of thing. But there's just no way that the personal terms have already been negotiated--it took I think one day from start to finish to agree the loan. I would imagine that right now Dike's agent and Barnsley are discussing terms for if Barnsley trigger the sale clause. If they don't come to agreement ahead of time, or close to it, then Barnsley wouldn't trigger the clause--because what's the point in trying to negotiate further with a player that doesn't want to play for you? (Not saying Dike wouldn't want to continue playing for Barnsley if they got promoted, just don't think it's the likeliest outcome)
An option to buy and an obligation to buy are two different types of loan-to-sale deal that happen all the time. The obligation to buy, or an option to buy that becomes an obligation following some sort of incentive being met, is basically an accounting trick. That's what Juve did with McKennie this season. In that case, the player will have agreed to personal terms with his new club prior to the loan being completed, that will take effect upon the completion of a full sale and transfer. An option to buy is different. All that means is that the clubs involved have agreed to a future sale price. The main benefit of the arrangement is that the selling club can't go "hey, actually, our guy did better than we thought he would, give us more money." Cases like Dike's are unusual - players on loan don't usually showcase themselves this well and draw interest from clubs with a lot more money. The other benefit is that these deals can get done much more quickly because the club receiving the player on loan doesn't have to hammer out a long-term deal immediately. To sum it up, there's no indication that Dike has signed personal terms with Barnsley. It would be really odd if he had, because the loan would have been structured and announced differently. So, come June, Barnsley has every right to trigger their buy option at whatever the fee is, but Dike is under no obligation whatsoever to accept their contract offer. Barnsley has no claim on Dike's rights, at all, beyond the ability to buy him from Orlando for a fee that the two clubs have already agreed to. Orlando can accept a higher offer from any other club, they can accept a lower offer from any other club, or they can reject every offer they receive, except the one from Barnsley.
We're not there yet, but from what I remember from the 'Adventures of Sergiño Dest' last year, all three parties have to be happy (or at least satisfied). Maybe here it would be four parties (3 teams + the player), if we have to accommodate Orlando, Barnsley, Dike's new mega club, and Dike. Dest wasn't a loan deal, so it was a different situation, but (from what I remember), while Ajax was talking transfer terms with Bayern, Dest was working out personal terms with Barcelona. But at the end of the day, Ajax, Barcelona and Dest all had to come to an agreement for the transfer to take place.
So the Sounders just went through this with Joao Paulo. The club had a 12 month loan with an option to buy for an undisclosed fee. When the Sounders decided to exercise the buy option they notified the parent club and were given permission to begin negotiating the personal terms with the player. Those negotiations took a few months to close and both parties almost walked away. It's the same process with regular transfers. First the clubs agree on the fee and then it's up to the buying club to close the deal with the player. To be honest I just assumed everyone knew this from playing Football Manager or FIFA Manager mode.
No, no, no, it’s 69 percent!* *This is what my teenage neighbor, a footballer, told me when I asked about Dike winning Barnsley’s golden boot. In fairness, I don’t know if he has a girlfriend right now, so that may have impacted his algorithm.
Barnsley believes that Barnsley are in the driver’s seat when it comes to where Dike will play in the future. In this piece they contradict the option $ number being bandied about in the press, and claim it is in their affordability range irrespective of whether Barnsley is promoted. https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2021/0...t-right-to-sign-usmnts-dike-fee-not-near-20m/A
Dane was just vague enough that two people can read his quotes and come to two very different conclusions.
I don’t think the “20” figure is correct either way. There was a tweet early on when that figure came out that rebutted it. People have taken it as gospel though.