The 16-year-old’s switch to La Masia was confirmed earlier this week, with other major European clubs, including RB Leipzig, also showing strong interest. City pushed to keep him at Carrow Road, but the lure of Barcelona proved decisive.
Clement admitted that whilst Tavares’ move to La Masia is a moment of real pride and a positive story for the club, there is frustration at losing such a talented prospect they’ve spent years developing.
“It’s both sides,” Clement said. “First, you don’t have any means to tie a player down at that age in the UK. Then the second part of the story is that he not only has his UK passport but also a Portuguese passport, which makes it much easier for foreign teams to bring him in. They can offer contracts that we cannot give because he’s too young here, but the rules are different.
"That's the story of why it's really difficult to keep somebody like that here on the other side. I think everybody needs to be also really proud, everybody in the academy, JJ himself and his family, to have a chance to work in Barcelona.
"It's also a really big opportunity, and it's also thanks to important work that's been done here by all the people in the academy to bring a player to that level that these teams are interested in so everybody here in the club wishes him the best.
"We spoke with him about staying here, and we had good talks about that, but in the end, he made the choice to go, and I understand also why."
The current rules mean that Norwich were powerless to prevent Tavares from joining Barcelona, with the winger ineligible for a professional contract until he turns 17. Clement admits those regulations feel conflicting, but is happy to leave the red tape to the authorities.
Ajay Tavares' only appearance for Norwich City's senior side came in a pre-season friendly against Volendam. (Image: Newsquest)
"It's everywhere different, and there are really weird rules for me, like in Scotland, if a young player is at the end of his contract and an English club wants him, he goes almost for free, and if he stays in Scotland, he goes to another club. Then, there needs to be an agreement between the clubs about the amount.
"Otherwise, they need to go to a tribunal where they will say it's a lot of money, so it will cost more between Scottish teams than to go to a foreign team, so it's not logical for me," Clement said.
"Normally you should protect your own players to stay in your own country but in every country there are different rules those are things for me to solve by Uefa and Fifa that's not my job to do I have enough to do here so I'm not going to get involved in that."