3 months ago
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If Liverpool’s transfer for Martin Zubimendi goes through the player will have to trigger his buyout clause.
Liverpool’s pursuit of Real Sociedad and Spain defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi continues this week with the Reds having set a Wednesday deadline for getting it done and local reports claiming that the player has decided he will make the difficult decision to leave his boyhood club behind.
However, according to The Times’ Paul Joyce, if the transfer of the 25-year-old widely regarded as one of the best in Europe at his position does go through in the coming days, it will be have to be via the triggering of his buyout clause rather than by way of a negotiated transfer between the two clubs.
In Spain this is further complicated by the fact players have buyout clauses that can only be paid by the players themselves, with the funds first deposited with La Liga, rather than the more typical release clause that would be paid directly from the buying club to the club being forced to release the player.
It’s a system meant to ensure a club cannot refuse to release a player from his contract, and recent tweaks to the system ensure that taxation issues—previously a headache given a buying club typically provides the player with the funds to trigger his buyout—at least are no longer an issue.
It’s a hardline move by Real Sociedad that many Liverpool fans will read as meaning they have given up on keeping the player, and that’s certainly how local Basque reports are framing it, but until the clause is actually triggered and the deal done some uncertainty and doubt will remain.
