Facundo Pellistri might no longer be a Manchester United player, but club officials will hope the winger continues to shine as he begins his career away from Old Trafford.. The Uruguayn’s permanent exit was confirmed with a £5.1m move to Panathinaikos on Wednesday, with a further £1.7m due in add-ons, but the most eye-catching part of the deal was the size of the sell-on United had negotiated with the Greek outfit.. Whether Pellistri shines or not in Greece, United will pocket 45% of his next fee. If the 21-year-old is sold at a loss that won’t amount to much, but if he thrives for regular game time and lands a bigger move, then a substantial sum could be heading back to fill the coffers at Old Trafford. Pellistri will hope to find his way back to a big five European league and United will hope he can achieve that as well.. ALSO READ: United include 16-year-old in first-team training after two wonder goals. ALSO READ: United can finally unleash their latest game-changer against Brighton. Sell-on clauses have gradually become more common in the game and United are starting to latch on. Almost all of the deals they have done for the sale of academy players this summer have included sizeable clauses and one will be included when Maxi Oyedele finalises his move to Legia Warsaw.. There was what was described as a ‘sizeable’ sell-on clause included when Willy Kambwala left to join Villarreal and around a 50% clause included in the deal that took Mason Greenwood to Marseille. United also included a sell-on when Alvaro Fernandez joined Benfica while most agreements also include buy-back clauses.. This is now the common structure when academy graduates are sold and United have made up ground in this department. They have certainly been more proactive around selling young players since Erik ten Hag arrived at the club, with Anthony Elanga, Zidane Iqbal, Matej Kovar, Teden Mengi, Axel Tuanzebe, Ethan Laird, Charlie Savage, Noam Emeran, and Marc Jurado all leaving last summer.. In Ten Hag’s first summer in charge James Garner was the headline academy departure, moving to Everton when a 15% sell-on clause was included. United are tending to get higher percentages now and it is sometimes worth accepting a smaller fee to land the higher clause, protecting the club if the player suddenly thrives with exposure to regular football.. United are yet to see a major benefit to these deals, but it’s no surprise they are getting higher clauses in deals when two former Manchester City powerbrokers now work for the club, in chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox. City lead the way when it comes to profiting from academy sales and often doing so twice.. This summer they banked around £10m from the deals that took Aro Muric from Burnley to Ipswich and Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa to Juventus. They could cash-in again if James Trafford is sold by Burnley and collected twice in quick succession last year when Romeo Lavia left Southampton to sign for Chelsea.. In an era defined by stricter spending controls, buy-back clauses are becoming a key weapon for big clubs. United have had to sell to buy this summer and could yet be forced to sell Scott McTominay to raise the funds to sign Manuel Ugarte.. The £40m or so they have raised from selling Greenwood, Kambwala, Pellistri and Fernandez has been helpful, but the fees heading to United for that quartet won’t end there.
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