According to L’Est-éclair, United’s €81m swoop for Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo is set to funnel €9m straight to CFG’s Ligue 2 outfit, ESTAC Troyes. Talk about an own goal.
In 2019, Troyes sold Mbeumo to Brentford for a modest €6.6m, slyly tucking in a €1m bonus for Brentford’s Premier League promotion. That bit of foresight is now paying off to the tune of €7.4m from a sell-on clause, with an extra €2m in FIFA training and solidarity payments to sweeten the deal. For a club caught in the mess of French football’s crumbling TV rights and this is a welcome bonus.
It’s not been all champagne and roses for the Ligue 2 side, mind. They only dodged a second straight relegation in 2023-24 because Bordeaux’s administrative implosion sent them tumbling to National 2. After scraping 17th that season, Troyes managed a forgettable 10th last term, scraping together 44 points.
Brentford, fair play, played a blinder, getting their full asking price for a striker who rifled in 20 Premier League goals last season. Mbeumo, a product of Troyes’ academy, was snapped up for £5.8m six years ago, and those crafty clauses are now paying dividends. But the real chuckle here is for CFG, with Manchester City grinning at the heart of it. United, trying to flex their muscles, end up slipping a few million to City's wider empire. You couldn’t script it better.
Troyes will take the money and run, hoping it fuels a climb up the table. Meanwhile, CFG’s bank balance gets a little fatter, courtesy of United’s chequebook. Cheers, lads.