The buy-back option is often reported on, rarely used and only recently embraced in England. But Liverpool are at the forefront of a strong transfer tactic.
It required the most durable footwear imaginable to wade through some particularly dense transfer jargon, but the latest David Ornstein update was an undeniable conversation starter.
‘Liverpool would want any deal for Elliott to produce a fee in excess of £40m plus a buy-back option, or above £50m without one. Their ability to achieve that will be dictated by the market and whether those considering him can or will push to such a level.’
Rough translation: Liverpool want £40m with a buy-back option or £50m without to sell Elliott and interested clubs may or may not pay that.
The immediate response was of astonishment from Manchester United supporters pontificating as to how their dressing-room disruptor the bottom-half club and manager actively wants to sell cannot command substantial interest at £70m, but champions Liverpool are able to price up a versatile, hard-working and unproblematic U21 Euros Player of the Tournament at just £20m less.
There is no mystery, no riddle, no conspiracy. Arne Slot appreciates Elliott, has explained his situation candidly without weirdly devaluing him by telling him to “pray” he can find another club, and can point to a title winner’s medal as justification for his decisions.
Liverpool are not desperate to sell but, as ever, will engineer any such deal heavily in their favour if it comes to pass.
Those buy-back options have become a card the Reds have leaned on particularly often recently. It is difficult to think of a more ubiquitous yet rarely used contractual clause in all of sport, but they have become a negotiating norm at Anfield to maximise potential returns on that already lucrative and famous Liverpool tax.
Elliott and Jarell Quansah are far better cases in point than Rafa Camacho or any recent Bournemouth sale Liverpool chose not to bring back; these are not players the Reds are anxious to offload, whose value has been so obviously inflated by breathing that rarefied Merseyside air. But there is an acceptance that selling in the right circumstance could ultimately benefit all parties.
Nor is this the sort of costly talent dump orchestrated by Chelsea every summer. Liverpool will not be burned by writing off a Kevin de Bruyne, Mo Salah or Romelu Lukaku too early. They are protected in any event.
They know increased game time could help these players achieve their potential and reserving a return ticket for years down the line underscores that message.
Liverpool actively want these sold players to prove them wrong, to show them they made a mistake, to accelerate their development and accentuate their worth. If and when that happens, the path back to Anfield has been specifically outlined as an in-built advantage in any transfer race.
There has been a curious Premier League-wide reticence to embrace a provision with a strong European history, particularly in La Liga.
Around the time Luther Blissett returned to Watford in search of Rice Krispies after a year in Milan in the 1980s, the agreements were far more informal. To some, they even bordered on the immoral.
“I would not like to say whether this agreement is legally binding,” said Liverpool secretary Peter Robinson in 1977. “It could possibly be considered a restraint of trade.
“But it was willingly signed by Kevin, who has said that he would not do anything without talking to us,” he added.
Liverpool had inserted an option to re-sign Keegan into their sale of the forward to Hamburg, although when Southampton were obliged to phone the Reds three years later to request their permission to bring him back to England, the First Division champions understandably gave Saints a free run as Kenny Dalglish turned out to be a handy enough replacement.
Keegan was 29 when Liverpool officially closed his road back; if Elliott joins Quansah in spreading his wings elsewhere, both will still be in their mid-20s by the time they could be offered the chance to finish their stories at Anfield.
It is another fine transfer tactic either way. The worst-case scenario is that Liverpool keep one or two excellent squad players; the middle ground is making between £35m and £75m in a ludicrously expensive and transformative summer which has already seen nine players sold or bought; the dream outcome is a combination of the two, paying a relatively small fee for both Quansah and Elliott to evolve and mature elsewhere before bringing them back.
Liverpool hold any and all cards on their futures. This is the age of the glorified loan and they are at the forefront of it.