I’m a bit baffled.
I read today that Birmingham City were close to finalising a deal with Arsenal that would see Jermaine Pennant move to the Blues permanently, for a fee of up to £3m. The story says we’ll receive £500,000 initially, with the remaining £2.5m depending on the usual performance and appearance incentives.
Two things: Firstly, £3m is quite a lot for someone who has played just a handful of Premier League games, and who has ‘previous’. Second, I thought his contract was up in the summer? If the latter is true, and taking the former into account, who would pay £3m for someone when you could get him for free in the summer?
Nice to see EastLower up and running again.
As regards the £3m, I think it’s got something to do with the fact that Pennant is young enough that a fee is still required. Like a compensation-type thing.
It is only £500,000 up front with the rest on success and appearances. I guess Birmingham want to be sure no one else steps in with more wages for him in the summer if he has a good run towards the end of the season.
Very strange indeed. Perhaps Birmingham want to sign him up before he’s available for free, since that might attract a lot of other clubs who would be willing to offer higher wages? But even then, 3 million seems a bit over the top.
I won’t complain though. that’s 3 million more to put towards signing King to be our new defensive midfielder (see last blog entry) :-p
I saw this on SKY last night…
Maybe they like heavy drinkers that wreck teammates automobiles…
Ssssh, East Lower, sssshh. Once Birmingham’s mad 3m is in the bank, *then* we can talk about it… I’m sure Steve Bruce knows what he’s doing… [cough]
Maybe they have to pay because Pennant is developed by Arsenal Academy and thus we are entitle to some compensation??
*kerching*
Nice bit of loose change for a player who has burnt all his bridges at Highbury. Good luck to him though.
Arsenal are entitled to a fee because of Pennant’s age. The Bosman “freebie” ruling only applies to players aged 24 or over.
I am confused about transfer negotiations outside the transfer window. Are they just setting up a deal that will be activated in the summer, or can they do the deal now because the player is already on loan and they are just making this arrangment permanent?