Sell-on clause

Unlike solidarity payments or training compensation, a sell-on clause is not created by any regulation. It is a private term negotiated into a transfer agreement, which means everything about it is up for discussion: the percentage, how long it lasts, and, most importantly, what it is a percentage of.

That last point is where sell-ons are most often misunderstood. A clause on the gross fee pays out on the whole of the next transfer. A clause on the profit pays out only on the amount above what the buying club originally paid. The two produce very different numbers from the same transfer, and the difference is worth more than the headline percentage.

Clauses are frequently capped, time-limited, or made contingent on the player still being under contract. Some survive only one subsequent transfer; others follow the player onward. Because none of this is standardised, the wording is the only thing that governs, and a clause nobody can locate years later is functionally worthless.

For an agent, a sell-on is a reason to keep the original transfer agreement retrievable long after the deal has closed. The money arrives years afterwards, usually when whoever negotiated it has moved on.