Buy- back clauses are logical progression of big clubs stockpilingockpilin youth

Chelsea have signed Exeter City’s 16- year- old Ethan Ampadu, making the defender the latest in a line of highly rated prospects to sign for the Stamford Bridge side. The question is: What happens next?

The club has long operated its youth academy as a supplementary for- profit business: Buy up the best young players, loan them out to get experience and then sell them on for a profit. For the most part, this has been a success but the exceptions have been notable.

Nemanja Matic was the first to force the club to question the process. The Serb was signed for 1.5 million pounds ($ 2 million) and sent out on loan to Vitesse Arnhem before joining Benfica as a makeweight in the David Luiz deal. Three years later the returning Jose Mourinho re- signed Matic for 21 million pounds after he had blossomed into a top- drawer defensive midfielder.

Such mistakes can be costly – none more so than Mourinho paying a world record fee to bring back Paul Pogba to Manchester United last summer. But if Chelsea are to re- sign Romelu Lukaku this summer, they will have to pay a lot more than the 28 million pounds they sold him to Everton for. The Merseyside club are said to want 100 million pounds, which – while not as embarrassing as the Pogba fee – certainly could have been avoided.

Perhaps mindful of that, Chelsea have inserted buy- back clauses into their recent deals to sell Nathan Ake and Ber- trand Traore, while rumors abound that other top English clubs are only willing to let their own young players leave with similar clauses in place.

Buy- back clauses are not new in England – Luther Blissett rejoined Watford from AC Milan on one in the early 1980s – but they have never been more popular, probably because of the success they have seen on the continent.

It’s a system that allows big clubs to have their cake and eat it, rather than enjoy a slice of humble pie. But aside from offering a finishing school for young players and the chance to buy them back if they come good, it also offers a chance to make even more money.

Yet these deals also suit the buying clubs, allowing them to sign players for less and not risk them being called back like loan deals plus making a guaranteed profit if the clause is activated. If it’s not, then you get to keep the player or sell him to whoever else wants to buy him. And they suit the players, allowing them precious game time.

We’re all going to have to get used to buy- back clauses – unlike big clubs’ youth team players, it seems, they’re going nowhere.