It’s so rare to see deals happen in football that involve players being involved in the transfer deal instead of money, but it’s very possible that the rise of financial fair play could result in that unintended consequence.
Transfer fees have risen so much, so once an elite team pays over a hundred million for a player then there are very few clubs to sell that player on to, so using them as a sweetener in a transfer deal might make sense.
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If you look at Barcelona just now, players like Antoine Griezmann and Coutinho were signed for big money, but they haven’t lived up to expectations and look expendable.
The problem is that no teams can really afford to buy them, so raising the funds to replace them is tough, and a swap deal suddenly makes a lot of sense.
That could also explain a recent report from Sport, where they state that Inter Milan will not accept anything other than cash to sell their Argentine star Lautaro Martinez.
They indicate that he has a release clause of €111m, but it’s tough to see Barcelona being able to afford that, especially if they want to make any other moves in the Summer.
They go on to say that Barcelona still hope that Inter will accept an offer that includes cash and at least one player, but Inter Milan are standing firm for now.