Exeter City are big summer transfer window winners thanks to Birmingham City: View | OneFootball

Exeter City are due a huge windfall from Jay Stansfield's move to Birmingham City - but here's why Grecians can't splash the cash.

Exeter City don’t usually feature too highly in the pecking order of headline-grabbing moves on transfer deadline day and, well, this summer was no different.

The Grecians did do a couple of deals, bringing in Pat Jones from Huddersfield Town on an undisclosed one-year deal and loaning Cheick Diabate to Bradford. Big whoop, right?

But anyone of the Grecian persuasion knows that, in fact, Exeter City were the massive winners on transfer deadline day and it’s all thanks to the man of the moment, Jay Stansfield.

Stanno Jnr made a remarkable move from Fulham to Birmingham City in the dying moments of the summer window in a transfer worth up to a reported £20m in total.

It was a stunning piece of business to see a League One Club sign a bright prospect from an established Premier League side who, frankly, wanted to keep him.

Many were agog at a League One side paying that kind of fee, with the Blues once again crushing Will Grigg’s £4m move to Sunderland which had been the previous record for the division before the start of the summer.

Stansfield is a wonderful young player, but is he really worth more than Euros winner Federico Chiesa?

Exeter City set for huge Stansfield windfall

Time will tell and no-one at St James Park cares right now as the club prepares for another huge academy graduate windfall that could total a handsome £4m.

The sell on involved in the deal to take him to Fulham in 2019 is thought to be between 15% and 20% meaning the club will get a minimum of £2.25m if it’s 15% with no add ons activated and a maximum of £4m if all are achieved at 20% of the reported price.

There’s also said to be a 20% sell on clause in Fulham’s deal meaning Exeter will receive 15-20% of any extra cash the Cottagers will pocket from Stansfield’s future moves, like they have with Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa.

Add this on to the money received from the Josh Key to Swansea tribunal and it’s been a pretty good summer for City’s accountants as the club pocketed a hefty fee without losing or selling anyone in the current squad.

The last time the Grecians received a huge fee from a sell on they redeveloped the Cliff Hill training ground and the big question among fans is, what will they do with this latest windfall?

Perhaps it will be divvied up and put into general improvements across the club, maybe they will buy St James Park back from the council, will City spend big in January?

Structure of Birmingham's Stansfield payment

It is very important to understand that there is a note of caution from the club regarding this cash, as they confirmed that the money would be drip fed to them from Fulham because of the structure taking Stanno to St Andrew's.

As we’ve seen with Chelsea’s mad moves in the market it appears that the Blues have ‘amortised’ the deal and given the 21-year-old a seven-year contract which means the fee paid to Fulham is split over the length of the contract and, therefore, any money City will receive will also be sent as and when the west London side get it over the seven years.

However, the overall sum is to be declared in City's accounts for this year before all the money is received, which will create a short-term tax liability but long-term income – so don’t expect big spending in the January window from the Grecians.

In a statement, City confirmed the long-term nature of the transfer payment. They said: "We can disclose that the financial benefit to Exeter City will be structured as a series of payments over an extended period.

"The structuring of deals of this nature can be challenging for clubs to manage as the full amount of the total fee is included in the year end accounts for that year, even though they might only have received a fraction of the cash.

"This in turn means that the tax liability for clubs can increase significantly before the full sum has been received."

Exeter will be cautious with Stansfield money

It’s been another belting summer for City’s productive academy and one we all hope will be reaped in the future, but the bottom line with this deal is that no giant sum landed in City's account the day after the window closed.

Given the seven-year contract, and the fact that normally means the transfer fee is paid off over that length of time, City can expect to take in between £570,000 per year if the 20% on £20m is achieved and £320,000 a year if at the lower level of 15% of £15m.

Whatever the number it's going to be a very handy annual fee to receive and even the lower number is almost double the average £175,000 a year invested to run the academy when it was stated that £3.5m had been put in over the 20 years of Trust ownership at the recent Annual Supporter Report.

The Stansfield to Birmingham transfer was certainly a flashy one, just don’t expect City to be splashing the cash as a result - at least not straight away.

As always the club will take the route of the tortoise over the hare, and we can only trust them to keep getting it right year after year.