Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that there are buy-back options in place for youngsters Jordan Ibe and Brad Smith.
Liverpool agreed to part with two of their promising youngsters in Jordan Ibe and Brad Smith earlier in the summer, with both of them moving to fellow Premier League side Bournemouth. While Ibe was sold for a £15m fee, Brad Smith followed his teammate to Bournemouth in a transfer worth £6m.
The Anfield faithful were upset at the departure of the two promising players as Jordan Ibe showed talent and potential to grow into an exciting footballer, while Brad Smith’s exit left Liverpool with a dearth of options in the left-back position.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp spoke to Liverpool Echo recently and revealed that the sale of the two players included a buy-back clause in each of their contracts. The German said that he was delighted to have been able to include the clause as part of their sale, expressing hope that they would grow into top footballers in the future.
Klopp was quoted by the Liverpool Echo as saying: ” Smith and Ibe are there and we have buy-back clauses. Hopefully they do really well and then in the end we and them will decide. The goodbyes were okay with both of them. Liverpool is still in their hearts so we will have a chance if they do well.”
Klopp also touched on the nature of the buy-back clauses, stating that the two options were cheaper than the average buy-back options seen in other deals. However, he conceded that Liverpool would have to pay more than what they received for the players if they were to exercise their option.
“Things like this are usually really expensive but these aren’t,” he said. “Yes, there’s a bit of a risk. The difference between loaning a player and selling a player isn’t so great. It’s not that you can sell someone for £10m with a buy-back clause of £8m. That would be fantastic!”
The former Dortmund manager insisted that the club will continue to monitor the youngsters’ progress at Bournemouth and would activate the option if there was a mutual agreement between the club and the players for them to move back to Anfield. This would be great news to Liverpool fans around the world as they will now hope that the two players do enough to convince the club and the manager to exercise the option and bring the players back to Anfield.