Man Utd earn SEVEN-FIGURE fee from Premier League transfer

Cameron Smith

14 Jul 2023 10:08 BST
4 min read

Manchester United have pocketed £1 million from Tahith Chong’s transfer from Birmingham City to Luton Town thanks to a 25% sell-on clause included in the Dutchman’s contract at St Andrew’s.

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The Red Devils sent Chong on a season-long loan deal to Birmingham for the 2021/22 season, before the Championship side paid £1.5m to sign the winger on a permanent deal last summer.

However, aware of his talent, Man Utd included a 25% sell-on clause in the deal, according to The Athletic, meaning they would take a quarter of any fee Birmingham earned from selling Chong.

MORE: Premier League 2023/24 summer transfers: All the Done Deals

The 23-year-old has now completed a £4m move to newly-promoted Luton Town to become the Hatters’ third summer signing after the arrivals of Chiedozie Ogbene from Rotherham and Mads Andersen from Barnsley.

As a result, Man Utd have pocketed £1m from the transfer, despite the fact that Chong was not owned by the club.

In total, it means the Old Trafford side have earned £2.5m from a player who joined their academy on a free transfer from Feyenoord’s U17 side.

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What has been said about Chong?

In Luton Town's official statement about the signing of Chong, manager Rob Edwards said: “Tahith is someone that I, and the football club, have known for a very long time. I first crossed paths with him when I was at Wolves a few years ago and he was in Man United Under-23s.

“I’ve liked him from then, and he was a bit more of a winger at the time. Looking at him in a lot more detail at Birmingham this year, he’s been able to play inside as a midfield player as well.

“Not only is he good technically, but athletically he’s shown another side to his game this year in the Championship, that his out of possession work was diligent, hard-working and reliable.

© ProShots - Tahith Chong has joined Luton Town from Birmingham City

“He gives us some real quality as well and with the ball, an end product. He’s at a good age and he’s going to keep improving. I think he’s coming into a good environment that’s going to help him do that, give him a platform that will help him take risks and be brave.

“He’ll make mistakes, but I think he’ll thrive in our environment and we are excited to get him in the building.”

Man Utd’s sell-on clause policy

Chong is not the only player that Man Utd have offloaded with a sell-on clause included at their next club.

In fact, Ethan Laird’s move to Birmingham included a 30% sell-on and Zidane Iqbal’s departure to Utrecht had a 40% sell-on clause, as reported by The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell.

Man Utd have offloaded eight players so far this summer, with Laird and Iqbal the only two players to leave for a fee. They fetched a combined £1.6m, while David de Gea, Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Charlie Wellens, Di’Shon Bernard and Ethan Galbraith all left upon the expiration of their contracts.