Many people believe that Sofyan Amrabat may turn out to be the best signing that Manchester United Football Club made this summer.
Not because the others are bad, it’s just that his profile is exactly what United need right now.
Putting together his playing style as well as his age, Amrabat could be the key to helping United’s midfield get more control in games for many years to come.
Of course, it took quite a while for the club to get the signing of the Moroccan over the line.
The Morocco international only signed for The Red Devils on transfer deadline day, despite the club being linked with him all summer.
Many speculated that the United hierarchy were trying to get him on the cheap, having struggled to offload many players that were surplus to requirements in the summer.
With Amrabat having only one year left on his contract, the powers-that-be at Old Trafford may have thought they could get him on the cheap while Fiorentina would be desperate to sell while they could get some money for him.
But it seems that the Italian side had an ace up their sleeve and inserted a secret clause into Amrabat’s contract before he signed for United.
That’s according to Il Tirreno, who report that Fiorentina have added a clause to Amrabat’s contract where it will automatically extend by a year if a permanent move to Old Trafford fails to materialise.
This means that United can’t just loan him for the season and then decide not to pay Fiorentina a fee to make it permanent yet follow up by signing the player on a free contract.
If United want to sign him on a permanent deal, they’ll either have to pay the fee that was agreed in the loan contract or renegotiate with Fiorentina knowing that the player is still contracted to them for another year.
So it seems that the Italian side were smart enough to cover themselves from being swindled and United will need to pay up if they want to make Amrabat a permanent fixture in their squad for years to come.
