Southampton fans were expecting Duje Caleta-Car to depart on a permanent basis, but suddenly it changed to a loan deal, but although on the outside that seems to be the case, it is claimed the reality is slightly different.

A few days ago it was reported that Duje Caleta-Car would be leaving Saints after less than a year on the books and he would be joining Lyon for around 5 million euros, a loss of a couple of million on the amount they paid on 1st September 2022.

sportwitness.co.uk are reporting that the news from France is that this is a only a loan deal in name.

They say L'Equipe in France are saying that due to financial monitoring currently in place on the French club, that they have persuaded Southampton to initially make this a loan deal.

Apparently Saints will receive €1.54m up front for the loan, which will be used by them to pay Caleta-Car’s wages, that will mean that no new salary will appear on Lyon's wage bill and help east the monitoring on them.

There is then a compulsory option to buy in place with Saints receiving a further 3.59 million euros accompanied by a "bonus" of €2.1m.

Caleta-Car has already agreed a four year contract with Lyon and once the Lyon wage bill is released from the monitoring process by the National Directorate of Management Control) the organization responsible for monitoring and overseeing the accounts of professional football clubs in France, then the deal will be made permanent and Saints will receive the second part of their money.

What the actual timescale is for this is unclear, but it seems an agreement that suits all parties, Southampton FC because they are initially covering his wages and have a signed permanent transfer deal agreement in place, the player who get a move away from St Mary's where he has not exactly shone in his time, starting just 9 Premier League games plus another 4 off the bench and of course Lyon who get to circumnavigate the restrictions they are currently under and get their man.

Nothing is ever straightforward with Southampton Football Club.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 12:18 - Aug 3 Of course ...wide publication of the details of this deal might alert the tax authorities in both countries that the clubs are seeking to sidestep the FFP rules regarding transfers. On the other hand - IF this is common practice and not illegal, and no-one is going to be punished... why is this a "story" worth publishing in the first place?.
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SaintNick added 12:21 - Aug 3 Firstly Southampton are not doing anything untoward, there is no reason why we should not loan a player in this way with an agreement to buy in place, so there are no implications for us. Lyon are under monitoring and not investigation, so this just seems to be a question of accountancy and balancing the books and paying the full fee when they are able to. Thirdly it is a story worth publishing because it clarifies the position, this is not just a loan deal in the true sense as was say Nathan Tella's or Will Smallbones last season

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highfield49 added 12:30 - Aug 3 Transfers were so much easier in days gone by, just a matter of how big a brown envelope you needed to complete the deal. The players probably got shafted most of the time though because they had no clue what was happening. The good old days? Maybe not.
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SanMarco added 13:54 - Aug 3 It is worth publishing because it shows that FFP is, just like taxation of the wealthy, an inconvenience to be got round/played/finessed. The most interesting thing is that Nick reports this and most of us barely raise an eyebrow. This is what goes on amongst modern elites in all areas. Tax is for the little people like us so the big boys can carry on regardless. FFP is an absolute joke unless it is enforced AT ALL LEVELS.

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Boris1977 added 15:16 - Aug 3 You said it Nick - nothing is ever straight forward with Saints. I'm wondering if the high number of flops in recent times is down to poor scouting or poor coaching? The black was supposed to make holistic assessment of potential players on the recruitment radar but we've heard a fair amount of rumour about player attitude being decisive in players not working out. Maybe the black box needs new batteries?

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Boris1977 added 15:17 - Aug 3 Black box
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Flamingbankers added 11:00 - Aug 5 Wow, seems like a lose-lose situation for Saints. Get rid of a useful centre-back for 1.5 millions euros for a year - when we really need a straight forward deal with immediate return. And then get back the remainder that we paid for him, if they like him, a year later. So that's the total fee after two years. But - he could still return to St Mary's, on 1.54 mil wages, after one year and he'll still have two more years to go on his contract. He might also be crocked. After getting £35 million all-out for Tino - it seems like a poor deal for a decent replacement centre-back. Unless I'm missing something, the deal doesn't make sense to me.

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