TAFC: The art of selling your best player and Newcastle’s Hugo Ekitike move

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Hello! Don’t cry because it’s over. Just set a high price and move on.

On the way:

The art of moving on your best player

(Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)

The first law of the transfer window is that every player has their price. Some of those prices are obscene, to the point of being unconscionable, but there’s a threshold at which a club will bend. The world thought Neymar was off-limits at Barcelona, until Paris Saint-Germain proved otherwise.

Armed with that knowledge, the most switched-on recruitment departments think regularly about the day when their prime assets are subject to offers too steep to refuse. It’s a scenario certain teams — Brighton & Hove Albion, for instance — go through on repeat. Supporters baulk at emotionally galling sales, but for clubs, it’s business and, if handled correctly, an opportunity with upsides.

A positive experience relies on circumstances where a side cash in on their best player in their own time, or on their terms. We’re seeing the flip side at Nottingham Forest, where Tottenham Hotspur have activated Morgan Gibbs-White’s release clause and Forest might complain to the Premier League. Gibbs-White will go one day and Forest know that; just not now, or not like this.

The Athletic’s Steve Madeley explored the art of auctioning your top dog in a way that doesn’t harm the selling party or, better still, enhances them through reinvestment. The article is relevant to this summer’s window because the trend is rife: Florian Wirtz to Liverpool, Martin Zubimendi to Arsenal, Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri to opposite sides of Manchester, and Joao Pedro to Chelsea. A common theme connecting them is the absence of acrimony in any of the deals.

Clearly, the sellers in those negotiations could read the room. Like Bayer Leverkusen pricing Wirtz at £100million ($135m) up front, valuation was the only hurdle. As one Premier League director told Steve: “It’s all about being proactive rather than reactive. If everyone buys into a proactive plan, it can work really well.”

‘The whole club works a year ahead’

(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

The simple fact is that footballers often outgrow their surroundings. Ambition levels shoot up and only a change of scene can satisfy them. Bournemouth could not pretend to be Real Madrid, so there was little to be gained by pretending that Dean Huijsen, pictured above, would reject the pull of the Bernabeu.

Steve’s research is like a beginner’s guide to managing a high-profile exit.

Step one: be up front if a player is getting itchy feet, rather than sticking your head in the sand. It’s more productive to work together.

Step two: decide in advance who will be replacing the departing star. Bournemouth did that when they lost Dominic Solanke to Spurs a year ago, channelling faith into Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo, who they had signed in earlier windows.

Those familiar with the process offered these pieces of advice:

🗣 “You pretty much always know when a player is going. Once you’ve had that conversation, you can start future-proofing to make sure you have replacements in place.”

🗣 “The whole club is ideally working a year ahead — six months at a minimum.”

🗣 “If your model as a club is to sell one big asset every year and reinvest the money, you have to make sure you always have four or five so that if the deal isn’t there for the one you planned to sell, you can change plans.”

Naturally, it’s not an exact science. Many a team have lost a big name against their will, or wasted a large fee through misjudged spending, but there’s a knack to being an effective selling club — and that label shouldn’t carry negative connotations.

Newcastle working on £65m Ekitike deal

(Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)

One of the top lines in the Transfer DealSheet this morning is perfectly on-theme: Eintracht Frankfurt grafting hard to secure the highest fee possible for sought-after forward Hugo Ekitike.

TAFC has referenced Ekitike repeatedly this summer, with several clubs fancying the 23-year-old. The latest news is that Newcastle United are homing in on him again, having narrowly missed their chance in January 2022. Frankfurt’s valuation back then was in the region of £20m. Newcastle are currently offering £65m. That’s inflation for you.

If the clubs reach an understanding, Newcastle would most likely break their transfer record, set when they bought Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad in 2022. Certain teams out there might be hoping that Ekitike arriving would make Newcastle receptive to offers for the outstanding Isak, but Chris Waugh’s information says otherwise.

Here’s what else we’re hearing:

News Round-Up 

• Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal is facing a possible investigation after a group of dwarves were filmed at his 18th birthday party. One group in Spain called it a “violation of ethical values” and said it was considering taking legal action.
• Manchester City are in the money again. They have renewed their partnership with Puma — now worth a cool £100m per season — for at least another decade. It’s the highest-value kit deal in Premier League history.
• To underline the point about how extraneous they are, Manchester United have told their out-of-favour players — including Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho — to train after 5pm, keeping them away from the main squad.
• This is a decent catch for Salford City, the League Two side whose owners include ex-United pair Sir David Beckham and Gary Neville: they’ve named Gavin Fleig as their new CEO. Fleig was previously employed by the City Group, the multi-club stable that owns Manchester City.
• Aptly-named women’s basketball star Aliyah Boston has joined the ownership group of new NWSL franchise Boston Legacy FC.

🖱 Most clicked in Monday’s TAFC: Donald Trump’s Club World Cup trophy celebration.

Teams have filled their boots at the Club World Cup — but at what cost?

Cover your ears, UEFA. In the opinion of Chelsea centre-back Levi Colwill, FIFA’s Club World Cup has the potential to supersede the Champions League as football’s Holy Grail. “In future, this will be the biggest trophy of all,” Colwill said. That’s him on Gianni Infantino’s Christmas card list.

Colwill’s enthusiasm for the Club World Cup shouldn’t surprise us. What’s not to like about the goldmine? Chris Weatherspoon has broken down total earnings from the 2025 edition today — comprising £270m shared among the four semi-finalists alone (above).

One of those sides, Fluminense, walked off with £45m and I wanted to touch on them because the latest episode of The Athletic FC Podcast broached the subject of how Club World Cup revenue could impact the South American scene.

Four Brazilian teams reached the knockouts and cashed in as a result. When you reflect that the last six winners of the Copa Libertadores, South America’s Champions League equivalent, came from Brazil, and that four of the past six finals have been all-Brazilian affairs, you have to ask: is FIFA’s latest wheeze tightening the country’s continental stranglehold? And is that a good thing?

And Finally…

(ITV Football)

Depth perception, in basic terms, is a person’s ability to register how far away they are from certain things. Hannah Hampton has none. As she puts it: “I can’t judge any distances.”

Which is astonishing because Hampton is England’s first-choice goalkeeper and a main player in their Euro 2025 squad. She underwent three operations on her eyes as a child. She finds it a challenge pouring water into a glass, but she has still negotiated a path to the top of her sport, in the position where accurately judging distance would seem to be most vital.

Sarah Shephard’s feature on Hampton is the most enlightening read I’ve encountered in a long time. Give it some love.

(Top photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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