The anti-Man Utd clause in Brahim Diaz’s contract

FT Desk

• 25 Oct 2022 16:21 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester City would get 40 per cent of the transfer fee should Real Madrid sell Brahim Diaz to Manchester United, it has been revealed.

Brahim is a former Man City academy graduate who has been with Real since 2019, but is now enjoying his career-best form in the third of his three-year loan stay with AC Milan.

Real paid just €17 million for the Malaga-born attacking midfielder who is now rated at €23m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm, and Milan's option to make the loan deal permanent at the end of this season will cost €22m, representing value.

Brahim has scored four goals and assisted one more in nine Serie A games this season, for a goal-involvement every 83 minutes, and his form has reportedly attracted the attention of Man Utd, even if the Rossoneri want to keep him.

But United would have to pay significantly above market value due to the fact that City inserted a clause in his contract in 2019 whereby they would get 40 per cent of any future sale to United, should one materialise, as reported by Gazzetta dello Sport.

Should Real agree to a €23m fee, that would see United pay €9.2m directly to their City rivals.

The chances of such a transfer may seem remote - and by all accounts Brahim is settled in Milan - but something similar happened last summer.

Sancho example

Jadon Sancho was a City academy player who left for Borussia Dortmund in 2019. When he returned to England with Man Utd last summer, City made around €12.7m.

City have buybacks on a number of their young players, with Southampton's Romeo Lavia the most recent example.

The path to first-team football at the Etihad is overcrowded, but City manager Pep Guardiola would rather have seen Brahim and Sancho stay like Phil Foden did.

"We did with Brahim everything we have done with Phil and with Jadon - important players and we did absolutely everything," he said in 2019.

"The only one who decides to stay is Phil. We wish him all the best. Real Madrid is not a bad step, so hopefully he can take the minutes he wants and that he didn't want here for many reasons."