Barcelona poised to miss out on sell-on pinch from former defender | OneFootball

Barcelona have found it difficult to generate significant funds via player sales in the last 12 months, which is why sell-on clauses have helped them to improve their financial situation. On this, they benefitted from a number of moves during the 2025 summer transfer window, although one deal did go against them.

Last summer, Barcelona sold Mikayil Faye – who had been signed for a nominal fee 12 months prior – to Rennes for €10.3m. As part of this agreement, they also retained a 30% sell-on clause, which related to any capital gain that the Ligue 1 side made from selling the defender on.

Faye showed good potential during his short time at Barcelona, so it had been hoped that he would impress at Rennes before making a big move. However, this proves not to be the case, and earlier this week, he left to join Serie A side Cremonese on loan with an option to buy. And as per MD, that option is for €10m.

Image via FC Barcelona

That would mean that Rennes would, on paper, make a €300k loss on Faye, which would also mean that Barcelona would not be entitled to any funds if Cremonese were to activate their buy clause next summer.

Barcelona will hope that Cremonese don’t buy Faye

In this regard, Barcelona will now be hoping that Faye does not sign permanently for Cremonese next summer, as it would keep open their chances of making some extra money via their sell-on clause. Taking this into account, they could keep tabs on how he gets on in the Serie A this season.

Ironically, Barcelona would probably have liked to have Faye available to Hansi Flick for the 2025-26 campaign, given that Inigo Martinez’s sale means that the Catalans no longer have a natural left-sided central defender in their first team squad, although his 2024 sale was necessary for financial reasons.