Douglas Luiz - Confirmed confirmed

[hipkiss92]

It's no different to a buy out clause in anyone's contract, other than this one applies specifically to Man City. Nothing stopping other clubs coming in for him if he turns out to be really good, we just won't have to accept their offers.

[chrisw1]

It's a good cheap way to get what looks like a top notch player for a season or 2.  We're already at c £100m spend, so where we can significantly improve the squad by being creative like this it has to be a good thing.  IF we stay up for a few seasons, hopefully we'll be buying players like this with no strings attached.  In the meantime, the absolute priority is to stay up and get another year of PL riches under our belt, and if Douggie contributes to that, then that's fantastic.

[Duncan Shaw]

Interesting update from Ashley Preece up there - suggesting the deal is no-where near as done as the BBC reports last Friday were suggesting, or he is being spun a line by the club until this afternoon.....

[cdbearsfan]

Isn't this buy back clause an example of what they specifically said we would not do? Develop players for other clubs?

A bit like a loan except it costs us £15m of it doesn't go well?

Not saying I don't want us to get him but this seems to be massively contrary to the sort of deal they said they wanted.

If it's the only way for us to get a player who could be world class, I don't see the harm. I won't be keen on these sort of moves when we are competing with Man City. That's not likely to happen for a good while though, even if you're incredibly optimistic. And even then, he can at least play against them, unlike a loan deal.

[AsTallAsLions]

"Down to player now I believe." This doesn't sound done at all. If true that Luiz has gone home to assess his options, no guarantees he'll sign.

[themossman]

I like the fact that (apparently) we have had the piss taken on transfer fees and have responded by walking away and moving on to a plan B involving different sorts of deals and markets.

On one level it’s a failure to stick to a stated plan, but I see it as a smart response to the situation we were in. In future it should also make selling clubs realise we’re happy to walk away from an inflated fee. 

[Clark W Griswold]

"Down to player now I believe." This doesn't sound done at all. If true that Luiz has gone home to assess his options, no guarantees he'll sign.

All he's really saying there that's useful is that he's been told that he flew home after holding talks. We don't know if that's really true and if it is we don't have a timescale on when that was, it could have been at the end of last week. I wouldn't worry, some reports a couple of days ago were saying he was there training with the squad.

[frank black]

It's no different to a buy out clause in anyone's contract, other than this one applies specifically to Man City. Nothing stopping other clubs coming in for him if he turns out to be really good, we just won't have to accept their offers.

But Man city could. A team makes the offer to Man city, they buy back the player and then sell him on...Bingo Man City make the profit on the sale over and above the buy back clause.

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

Once he's played for the best team in the world, he won't want to go anywhere else, including Man city.

[Toronto Villa]

I don’t look at this as developing a player for another team. For me it’s no different to us maybe one day selling Jack to Man City, Barcelona or Real Madrid. In essence we have developed him and will possibly sell him up the football food chain. Just in the car of Douglas we know where he might go back to if he does well for us. With a loan you don’t make a profit but at least in this case we will.

[Brassneck]

Good point about the buy out clause.  It’s effectively only the same as any other buy out clause.  Not ideal as we lose control to a certain extent but probably the only way to entice a player here of his quality and at this point in time.

Biggest worry for me is that while this is up in the air, someone else could come in.  £15 million is a steal in today’s market.

Hopefully we can get this done, alternatively, we can always fall back on Philips.  That said, the potential of watching Douglas has really grown on me.

[dave.woodhall]

It's no different to a buy out clause in anyone's contract, other than this one applies specifically to Man City. Nothing stopping other clubs coming in for him if he turns out to be really good, we just won't have to accept their offers.

But Man city could. A team makes the offer to Man city, they buy back the player and then sell him on...Bingo Man City make the profit on the sale over and above the buy back clause.

Don't FIFA regulations ban playing for three clubs in one year?

[VILLA MOLE]

do we know how much the buy out clause is ??

[Dave]

It's no different to a buy out clause in anyone's contract, other than this one applies specifically to Man City. Nothing stopping other clubs coming in for him if he turns out to be really good, we just won't have to accept their offers.

But Man city could. A team makes the offer to Man city, they buy back the player and then sell him on...Bingo Man City make the profit on the sale over and above the buy back clause.

Don't FIFA regulations ban playing for three clubs in one year?

In this scenario he wouldn't actually play for Man City though?

He'd be registered with three, but that's not uncommon. Bolasie played for us and Anderlecht last year while being registered as an Everton player for example.

[themossman]

I don’t look at this as developing a player for another team. For me it’s no different to us maybe one day selling Jack to Man City, Barcelona or Real Madrid. In essence we have developed him and will possibly sell him up the football food chain. Just in the car of Douglas we know where he might go back to if he does well for us. With a loan you don’t make a profit but at least in this case we will.

Good point - would we, with the benefit of hindsight, have said no to the chance to develop Benteke for a few years for Liverpool/Palace? Teams don't ever really own players and rightly so. Is a (say) 2 year deal for a player that different from a loan. Or even a longer permanent contract given a player can and will force a move if they want to.