Villa settlement paves the way for Ehiogu exit

13 August 2000

West Brom and Aston Villa have come to an agreement over the much publicised sell-on clause under which Albion receive 50% of the profit over £200,000 should Ugo Ehiogu be sold. Villa have said many times that Albion's refusal to back down on the clause will cause them to hang onto him until his contract expires, though few people seriously believed that Villa would allow that to happen. They have previously made offers (of £250k, £1 million and then £1.5 million) to buy out the clause, although it has always been on the condition that Ehiogu was sold - and given the fact that Villa have rejected bids of up to £7.5 million for him, Albion have understandably turned the offers down without very much thought. Chairman Paul Thompson has always played down any speculation over negotiations, saying that as far as he was concerned the clause should be honoured; it was, after all, imposed by the FA as a punishment for Villa's poaching of the player nine years ago.

However, further negotitations have reached a settlement, although the exact details are not being made public. Should Ehiogu be sold, Albion will accept a lump sum in return for a reduced percentage of the transfer fee. Given that he has not actually asked for a transfer despite making his desire to leave very public, Ehiogu would receive a share of the fee - reducing Villa's proceeds from the sale still further. The new deal, presumably, allows Villa to keep a big enough share of the proceeds to make the sale worthwhile.

So how much will Albion receive? Well, having turned down the £1.5 million offer, it seems reasonable to assume that we'll be looking for at least £2 million. Villa's valuation of Ehiogu appears to be upwards of £8 million, which under the terms of the sell-on clause would give us £4 million. The actual figure will therefore be somewhere between the two, and most fans would probably settle for about £2.5 million - money that will come in very useful to help in building a squad capable of a top six finish.

To add an incentive, however, Thompson has also stated that this offer is made on a short-term basis only - and that it won't still be around in six months time. Nor, hopefully, will Ugo...

Previous Stories:

  10 August 2000:  McInnes signs up for Albion

  09 August 2000:  McInnes on his way to sign for Albion

  08 August 2000:  Albion push McInnes for decision

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