Manchester United Secure Sell-On Clauses in Arsenal Transfers

Manchester United are preparing to wave goodbye to two more academy products – but not without protecting their future value.

According to The Athletic, 20-year-old right-back Habeeb Ogunneye has already completed a medical with Arsenal ahead of a move from Old Trafford, while 19-year-old winger James Scanlon is also closing in on a switch to the Emirates.

Both deals are expected to be free transfers. The real business sits in the small print.

United are understood to have inserted significant sell-on clauses into each move, ensuring they cash in if either youngster takes off in north London. It’s the latest sign of a clear strategy shift in how the club treat their academy departures.

Arsenal link and Horseman connection

Ogunneye and Scanlon will not be walking into an unfamiliar environment if and when they complete their moves.

Both players are known to Arsenal’s new under-21s head coach, David Horseman, who spent four months at United as an academy coach. That brief spell has now opened a pathway between two of English football’s biggest rivals, with Arsenal looking to add depth and potential to their development squads and United determined not to lose talent for nothing.

United’s academy rethink

For years, academies were judged almost solely on how many players broke into the first team. That still matters. But the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan has changed the landscape, turning youth systems into engines not only for talent but for revenue.

Chelsea have set the benchmark, generating over £400million in transfer fees from academy graduates. For clubs operating under PSR (profit and sustainability rules), those homegrown sales are gold: pure profit on the balance sheet.

United, under the new Ineos-led regime, are trying to catch up.

This summer has already seen a flurry of academy exits, each deal carefully structured. Winger Ethan Ennis left last week, joining League One side Stockport County. He followed Ethan Williams, who signed for Peterborough United, goalkeeper Radek Vitek, now at Middlesbrough, and defender Tyler Fredricson, who has moved to Ineos-owned Lausanne Sport.

None of those were simple goodbyes.

Williams’ move included a 50 per cent sell-on clause, a buyback option and matching rights, giving United the chance to return if he explodes elsewhere. Vitek’s transfer involved a substantial initial fee that could rise to £14m, plus a 35 per cent sell-on, buyback and matching rights. Fredricson’s switch to Lausanne carried a “high percentage” sell-on clause and a buyback option as well.

The pattern is unmistakable. United are turning their academy into a financial asset as much as a footballing one.

Ratcliffe’s vision

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been open about what he wants from the club’s youth system.

"You need the academy to be producing talent all the time. It helps you financially," he said on The Business Podcast last October.

The current window is that philosophy in motion. Players like Ogunneye and Scanlon may never kick a ball for United’s first team, but their development still has value – sporting for Arsenal, financial for United.

If those sell-on clauses eventually get triggered, United’s academy will have paid off twice: once in producing Premier League-level prospects, and again when the market comes calling for them.