4 Arsenal sales included sell-on clauses this summer

James Benge reports for CBS Sports that Arsenal’s deal to sell Fabio Vieira to Hamburger SV included a sell-on clause, which could potentially add to the small amount the club brought in for the initial transfer.

Arsenal also reportedly have sell-on clauses in Gabriel Jesus (Barcelona) and Gabriel Martinelli’s (Al Hilal) contracts, so they negotiated a lot of these deals over the summer. Jakub Kiwior (FC Porto) has a fixed €2m sell-on clause, rather than a percentage.

Besiktas’ president also confirmed that Arsenal tried to include a sell-on clause in Leandro Trossard’s deal, but he didn’t specify whether there was one in the final agreement.

The value of Vieira’s clause isn’t known, so it’s hard to assess exactly how much this changes the picture of the deal overall.

A clause in the region of 5-10% would barely have any impact, even if Vieira’s value unexpectedly doubles or triples.

But a much larger clause could give Arsenal a decent boost in the future, and bring the club closer to their initial valuation of the Portuguese midfielder.

Arsenal had originally agreed an option to buy worth €22m with HSV, when loaning Vieira to Germany in 2025. HSV didn’t take up that option, and pushed for a deal at €10m or less.

Initial reports this summer suggested Arsenal wanted a lot more than that, even if they were willing to come down a little from their €22m buy option.

But in the end, Vieira joined HSV for €10m, exactly what the Bundesliga side wanted. If the sell-on clause isn’t for a significant percentage, it seems Arsenal spent months negotiating to get no closer to what they were asking for.

Vieira will have the chance to make his second debut for HSV on Sunday, with the club hosting Mainz in a Bundesliga match. Arsenal now have an incentive to hope he has a good season with his new, old club.