How Liverpool's ex-players helped get Federico Chiesa for FREE

Following the all-but-official news that star Italian forward and Euro 2020 winner Federico Chiesa is set to sign for Liverpool, it has transpired that thanks to some of the Reds’ previous transfer activity Chiesa’s fee would actually almost come to no money spent at all.

Of course, it is worth giving the caveat that the reported transfer cost is around £10.9m, and this is of course subject to change dependent on official confirmation and certain add-ons, but early signs are showing that it might just be another masterstroke from Michael Edwards’ previous stint as transfer guru at Anfield.

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Getting into talk about net spend and money spent versus money earned can sometimes be tedious, but in the case of Chiesa’s potential cost it is absolutely something worth delving into.

Outright sales this summer of players like Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg and Bobby Clark are perhaps what people might focus on, but the truth is Chiesa might have been paid for purely from sell-on clauses alone.

The sell-on clauses, explained

The big headline when it came to Liverpool making profit from a sell-on clause this summer was Dominic Solanke’s record-breaking move to Tottenham, given that the hefty fee paid brought the Reds a cool £9.2m, but that wasn’t the only former player to earn their old club some more cash.

Polish goalkeeper Kamil Grabara moved from FC Copenhagen to Wolfsburg this summer after a deal had been agreed last year, and in the process the former Liverpool man netted the Reds an extra £2.2m thanks to a sell-on clause they possessed.

Another ex-Liverpool player on the move this summer was Luis Alberto, who after many overtures left Lazio to join Qatari outfit Al-Duhail, and thanks to a sell-on clause that was put in place eight years ago earned another £1m.

Combined, the total Liverpool have earned just from former players moving clubs this summer was approximately £12.4m, so to pick up Chiesa and have £1.5m left over is a truly remarkable piece of business.