Much has been made of the transfer of Bojan Krkic to Roma: the emotional press conference, the suggestions that the club has acted mercilessly with a dedicated Masia graduate who simply needed more time to develop, and the equal feelings of relief from those fans who failed to appreciate the contribution that Bojan made to the squad. But amid all the hubbub, one key fact has been overlooked by many: Bojan Krkic has not been sold. More importantly: despite the vague acrimony in his declarations to the media on Friday, there is every likelihood that Bojan will wear the blaugrana colors again.
AS Roma made public on Saturday the official terms of the Bojan transaction, and some of the details are worth deeper scrutiny. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that there has never been a player transfer framed quite like this. From the official press release:
“A.S. Roma S.p.A. announce a contract with Barcelona to buy player Bojan Krkic Perez for €12m, to be paid before July 1, 2013.
As part of this agreement, Barcelona have an exclusive option to buy back the player at a cost of €17m in 2011-12 or €13m in 2012-13, to be paid in two installments on January 31 and May 31 2014.
This option to buy back is mandatory for Barcelona for the second season, but includes a counter-option for Roma to maintain rights to his sporting performances.
Roma’s option is to be taken up by June 20, 2013 for another €28m to be paid in three installments on July 1, 2013, January 31, 2014 and July 31, 2014.
As for the player, he has agreed a four-year contract which expires on June 30, 2015 worth €3.2m for 2011-12 and 2012-13, then €6.3m from 2013-14 to 2014-15, in addition to individual performance-related bonuses.”
Cutting through the formal language, there are some striking elements in this deal: we have sold Bojan for 12 million euros but are obliged to buy him back in two years for 13 million. The only thing that will prevent Bojan from returning to Barcelona is if Roma exercise their option to buy the player outright for another 28 million, taking the transfer total to 40 million euros. Follow that?
Roma and Barcelona have fashioned a deal that seems to benefit both clubs. Put into lay terms, we are essentially renting AS Roma as a two-year development camp for one of our potentially promising players for 1 million euros. Barcelona benefits additionally in offloading Bojan’s salary to the Italians, and in the short-term, the club’s accounting ledger can show a 12 million euro gain. Roma benefits by acquiring an exciting attacker at below his market value, and holds the final trump card in the off-chance that Bojan develops into something truly special.
The impetus for these odd transfer provisions can be found in the recent climate of economic crisis in which football transactions take place, and in the new UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations which take effect this season. Writing for Football Italiano, Varun Mathure explains the potential precedent that Bojan’s transfer might create:
“Farming out talent to other clubs for a sizable fee only to buy-back the player at a higher price sets its own kind of money lending system in place. In the case of Bojan, if there are particularly high expectations from the player it ensures that the ultimate ownership stays in the hands of the parent club whilst allowing the other one to benefit from his services. In Roma’s case this is a win-win as they lack the financial muscle of their other Italian rivals to make an outright purchase. The Giallorossi’s new ownership is keen to avoid the mistakes of other European clubs, where a huge investment has been made in the first few years of the regime only to then become severely tight-fisted.”
Some questions about this transfer remain, but one thing seems certain: we haven’t seen the last of Bojan Krkic.
